Forgetting and Remembering
by Katarina H
Summary: After summer ends and a new year begins, what will come next for Haru-chan? Her father is murdered and the killer is on the loose, making her his next target while Hikaru fights against his own immaturity. Mistakes are imminent.
1. F&R Chapter 1:Running Away

XP Here goes.

Forgetting and Remembering

Chapter 1

She sat alone in her room, thoughts about her father whirling aimlessly around her head.

He hadn't told her anything. The man who she'd proudly proclaimed as her father was now gone and she was alone without a good bye.

Since her mother's death, Haruhi Fujioka had changed into an independent girl who relied on nobody, not even her recently deceased transvestite father. The only thing he had needed to do for her was keep on smiling and everything would be okay.

The world seemed a lot bleaker now.

In the past year, she attended Ouran Academy, a school for the super rich. Though the Fujiokas weren't nearly wealthy enough to pay the fees, Haruhi had gotten a scholarship and started her second year a month ago.

By mere accident, she was joined into a crazy host club at the beginning of last year and nobody outside of the club knew of her identity as a girl. It didn't bother her but it made all of her classmates seem pretty short-sighted.

Even if she did call all of the boys in the club her friends, it wouldn't feel right to bring them into her woes.

"I miss you dad," Haruhi whispered into the darkness. Now an orphan, she was alone in the small apartment and cried at the remnants of the bright household. The last thing she desired was to go to school the next day with the least grimace-like smile she could muster, but it would only worry her friends if she wasn't there at all. The only problem was that she didn't want them to know, no matter what.

She sighed at a flood of memories of all the times the six crazy idiots had been there for her.

_Kyouya might already know… but he wouldn't say anything… Right?_ she thought.

Kyouya Ootoori was a third year now and was the "okaa-san" (Mother) of the group and dealt with all the business ends of club necessities and had an eternal poker face… except glaring, smirking, and shooting an evil, knowing grin every now and then.

He was a kind person deep down, she knew that, even if he seemed to know everything and see straight to people's souls. All the pain she felt and tried to ignore would only be magnified with their worried eyes scrutinizing her, so keeping the news bottled up felt like her only option.

Relaxing her exhausted muscles, the worn girl tried to forget about the funeral she had to attend Friday after school – meaning tomorrow. Skipping club activities weren't worth the loss she felt but it would make things easier.

Angry rain poured loudly against the thin windows as tears flowed noiselessly down her cheeks. She curled up into a ball and drifted from consciousness.

_

The alarm rang out loudly, stirring Haruhi awake. She rose numbly and whacked the 'off' button a little harder than necessary.

Getting dressed and ignoring the grumbling in her stomach for food, Haruhi went to wash her face and tried to plaster a smile on. Even the mirror thought her smile was worse than her tears.

She began thinking about her father once more, against her will, and suddenly a thought dawned on her. _If he was murdered, then what happened to the murderer?... The police told me to be careful but I thought they were talking about speeding cars on the way home._ Haruhi's heart sank like a stone in water but she shook it off and grabbed her bag and filled it with her books.

_No way. _She inwardly laughed at herself._ Who do you think you are? What would the murderer want with someone as worthless as you?_

Still, the dread lay inside of her and she left hurriedly. She scanned the streets with an unintentional nervous glance and took the public route to school, afraid of the alleyway shortcuts she had normally taken.

_Just in case, you know?_

_

Sitting down in class, Haruhi unpacked her bag and prepared herself for the twins' fashionably late arrival.

Hikaru and Kaoru Hitachiin were identical twins that nobody could tell apart (except Haruhi knew they were very different people and thus became the only person to identify them correctly). They wore devilish grins and spent most of their time coming up with schemes to drive others crazy. They were the only other two in the group that were in her year, not to mention her class, 2-A.

"Good morning Haruhi!" they chorused together as they entered the room.

"'Mornin'," she mumbled in reply, digging a pencil from her bag.

"What's the matter?"

"Tired. Studied late. I'm fine." She didn't have trouble looking tired because it hadn't been until around 2 am that her eyes finally closed. Lying wasn't a habit of hers but the words slid out believably enough. The boys shrugged into their seats and got their own notebooks out.

Haruhi sat behind them, letting her messy bangs hang however they pleased. She could hear the boys chuckling as they played a video game against one another below their desks. Their strawberry blonde hair had begun growing close to a fiery red and orange and made them look like wild princes. With mischievous eyes, girls swooned over their 'devil-type' and the magnificently tailored school uniform of black pants and a blue blazer.

Haruhi watched the backs of student's heads for a while but eventually began to stare out the crystal-clear window. The sun smiled proudly in the shimmering sky but she could feel the raincloud looming above her, threatening to pour once more. Biting her lip, she attempted to mentally prepare herself for what lay ahead.

Realizing class time was almost over; Haruhi decided what to do next.

The bell finally rang and the boys rose up and stretched in unison. "So," Kaoru yawned. "Ready to head out?" Hikaru finished.

Haruhi looked to the front board. There were a series of long math problems she hadn't noticed the teacher wrote.

"I didn't, uh, finish the problems, and I have a question for the teacher. I'll catch up." She knew it was a bad idea but attempted a smile anyways.

They brothers glanced at each other and shrugged again. "See ya," they called over their shoulders.

Haruhi sighed in defeat. _That was harder than I thought._ Lying made her feel uncomfortable but telling them would be even more painful.

_Just lunch break and one more class._ Haruhi mulled over the funeral to she had to attend.

She laid her head on her arms, exhaustion running through her veins.

Before she'd let herself fall asleep, she stood and left the room for a walk.

She wandered the cavernous hallways and beautifully tiled floors, her mind wandering. A stubborn tear ran down her face.

As she turned a corner, Hikaru and Kaoru could be seen walking her way. Panicking unreasonably, she ran back the way she came while wiping the tear from her face. She turned a corner and hid in a closet filled with cleaning supplies. She gasped for breath and heard steps outside the door.

"What the hell was that? I thought it was Haruhi for a second there," Hikaru's voice said.

"I dunno. I wonder what happened to her, she never showed. Did you see the mushrooms growing in his hair?" They both laughed and their footsteps echoed fading until all sounds disappeared.

She stepped out and glanced at the watch on her wrist, the previous panic turning into nausea. With 25 minutes left, she searched for an empty unisex bathroom and hurled into the nearest toilet, struggling for breath.

She slid to the floor and wiped her bangs from her heated face and time passed before she had the strength to get up again.

Haruhi washed her face and rinsed her mouth repeatedly making sure the horrible taste of death was out of her system. She returned to room 2-A and sat down to work on the forgotten math problems.

The bell finally ringing made her jump.

Kaoru and Hikaru entered the room and sat down in front of her.

They looked unsure of themselves for a second and kept glancing at each other, never meeting her eyes. Hikaru opened his mouth, and thinking better of it, closed it again.

There was a silence between the three until Kaoru finally broke it. "You're still working?"

Haruhi made up her mind on her next lie. "I started but left to find you guys. Only Tamaki was in the cafeteria and I didn't want to have to be with him alone. You know how he is…" she attempted at a smile again, more successful this time, and kept talking "and so I came back and finished up the problems," the blood began draining from her face and her stomach silently churned, threatening to incite her gag reflex.

The boys glanced at each other again and looked back at her. "'Kay."

Haruhi spent the rest of class doodling and working on the tougher problems in her workbook to keep her mind filled up so she wouldn't think about the war in her upper torso between her heart and stomach.

She didn't want to leave to the bathroom in the middle of class but she felt the urge to throw up stregnthened when there was only a half hour left in class.

"Um, sensei?" Haruhi raised her hand. "May I be excused? I finished the problems and the homework already so can I go early? I have to go to the bathroom."

Haruhi felt the twin's stares on her but she forced her eyes to stay on the balding teacher.

"Go ahead." He waved her off and went on to explain the homework. He didn't care enough to doubt the scholarship student.

Picking up her things quickly, Haruhi slipped out of the class with two pairs of eyes on her the whole way. Breaking into a run, Haruhi had almost made it to the front entryway when she heard her name behind her. She kept going and made it to the street before hearing other running footsteps behind her. The tears unlatched themselves from her eyes and poured freely down her cheeks.

She cut into an alleyway, forgetting that morning's fears and ducked around to get through the shortcut she knew nobody else knew of. She stopped only once to throw up into the garbage can again but made it home in almost record time.

She also ignored the creepy black van sitting across the street and locked the door behind her.

Pulling off her uniform, she retrieved the only black dress out of her closet and ran to the bathroom to with nothing more than empty, agonizing heaves.

After painfully dressing, Haruhi brushed her hair and teeth, attaching a small black bow in remembrance of her father's love for girly things.

She went outside with her small bag with only a wallet and rarely used cell-phone inside. It had been turned off since the death of her father and it was only brought along for emergencies.

A limo sat in front of the apartment complex's lawn and the two faces inside the open window were speaking with knit brows to someone else sitting opposite them inside the car. Haruhi quietly closed the door again, thankful that they hadn't seen her.

She slipped out the back door onto the small, neat balcony and crawled into the big tree that had invaded into their already limited area. She slid down, taking out and turning on the cell phone. By speed dial, she called the officer who's taken her home after questioning.

"Hi, this is Haruhi. Um, would you mind giving me a ride?"

She advised the police man to get her from the neighboring block. She then proceeded to trespass through a few lawns and made it to the other side, hiding behind a bush. Her phone was still on and it began to vibrate with message after message, some voice mail, others just text.

She listened to one, ignoring the now-incoming call from Tamaki. "Hey Haruhi, it's Hikaru, I heard something funny at school today and then Kyouya said something… and well... We're coming to see you. We saw you running and we're worried. We'll be at your place soon. We're bringing only Tamaki since the others stayed behind for the club, but they're all worried about you too. What the hell is going on Haruhi? – _End of message. To delete this message-"_

Haruhi sighed, her finger pushing the off button, and climbed into the waiting police car.


	2. F&R Chapter 2: Worrying

Chapper 2:

The funeral was as grim and depressing as any other funeral. A lonely shadow hung over Haruhi as she stared at all the people she didn't know. The only person she recognized was the bartender at the gay bar who had brought her drunken father home on many occasions who now stared at the ground with a tissue to his face.

The rest she assumed were Ranka's (her dad's) clients and coworkers and even a few neighbors showed up. But Haruhi didn't know any of them. They were unrecognizable faces that she held no relation to.

She didn't really know anything about the people her dad spent time with. _I was a cruel daughter for not taking the time to meet even a few of his friends._

Haruhi remembered her own friends guiltily until a stream of police cars arrived. The ceremony was ending and people had begun to migrate to the parking lot.

"Haruhi Fujioka?" The police chief came walking towards her. "I understand you'd like to grieve in peace but we have an issue that needs to be brought to your attention. Because your father was murdered it also puts you at a great danger. The man who killed him is still out there looking for you." He stared at her, concerned eyes glinting in the shrouded sunlight.

"Oh." The words imprinted themselves into her mind and slowly sank in deep. "_Oh._" Haruhi understood what it meant and couldn't stop the slight trembling of her arms.

"Haruhi-san, we'll be taking you into protective custody. They need to review the will of your father that has yet to be read. His lawyer told us that it has plans for where you'll be living."

"Um." She couldn't breathe. The power in her legs gave way and the chief held her up by her elbow. "Here, Detective Gorsy, take her home to pack. I'll send another back-up car in case the lunatic is hanging around. Call in immediately if you see anything suspicious and bring her to the station. We'll have some cars to patrol the area." He let go of Haruhi's arm and let her walk to the car with the help of the detective.

"I'm Detective Gorsy. Don't be afraid, you're very safe with us - nothing can hurt you now." The man smiled reassuringly.

She sat in the back and he took a seat in the front with his partner who he introduced as Detective Johnson.

They rode silently and stopped at the curb suddenly, a few houses down from her apartment complex. "What's wrong?" Haruhi asked, scared.

"Do you recognize that limo sitting in front of your yard, Haruhi?" Detective Gorsy motioned towards the limo that was still waiting there. His fingers were twitching to push the call button on his radio at any moment.

"Oh - my friends. They were waiting for me earlier and I guess they stayed…" Haruhi's mind pressed with guilt at leaving them like that. She'd assumed they would have left when they saw she wasn't at home.

"Hmm, okay." The Detective drove on and parked behind the limo. Both detectives got out and led her up the walk. Haruhi tried to conceal herself between the tall men but it was to no avail. The limo door opened hurriedly and out came Tamaki, Kaoru, and Hikaru. They wore confused expressions towards her escorts.

Tamaki, "king" of the host club, was a third year. Normally he acted as an idiot and was overly dramatic with everything he did. With dazzling blue eyes and radiant blonde hair, he was princely, handsome and kind, but an emotional moron all the same.

"Haruhi?" His eyes shone with worry that the twins shared.

"Why are you with the police? Are you in some kind of trouble? Did something bad happen? You didn't come to lunch and I thought that you were angry again and that…" But Tamaki stopped at Haruhi's serious expression. She was exhausted and wanted to get the rest of the day over with quickly.

"It's nothing senpai. Really. They were just giving me a ride. Don't worry so much - you too, Hikaru and Kaoru. I'm sorry I didn't call. I can't find my phone." The lies slid from between her lips like water and the detectives standing beside her only glanced at one another and thought better than to say anything.

""Haruhi, is there something you're not telling us?" His golden eyes silently pleaded her to tell them about everything, or even anything more. By the way he said it; he knew more than Tamaki did. The sun was beginning to set and a cold wind picked up. Haruhi shuddered.

"I'll call you guys tomorrow, 'kay?" She tried to keep her voice even.

"No, I wanna know what's going on. You missed lunch with your beloved father-" the word made Haruhi flinch, "-and made me have to deal with the two devils all alone. They saw you running and someone saw you throwing up in the bathroom and there's rumors going around-" Tamaki began to talk too fast so Haruhi cut him off.

"Since when did rumors become believable? Anyways, thank you but I have some things to do right now. Good night." Haruhi walked off with that and felt pain stab her as she knew she had hurt their feelings. However, she couldn't bare standing there before them and talking anymore. She just wanted to go to sleep and forget the whole business. Little did she know the night had only just begun.

Detective Gorsy inspected the apartment before Haruhi was allowed inside. Her friends stood below, confused.

"It's all clear. I'll stay out and watch. Detective Johnson will come inside and help you get your things."

Haruhi nodded and went inside. Detective Johnson closed the door behind him to keep the cold air out.

Hikaru was frustrated at Haruhi's stupid inability to depend on them, even now. It was the same way back when he had held her through the thunderstorm she had been deathly afraid of - after sitting alone for so long.

He ran up the stairs to her door where the other detective stood, the other two boys following. "What's going on?" Hikaru demanded.

"Your friend didn't tell you?"

"Well, we got some information from a friend of ours that a transvestite male was murdered in this neighborhood. Was it Haruhi's dad?"

Gorsy nodded at the three boys. "We're taking her into protective custody until a suspect is sought out. Haruhi won't be at school for the next couple days when things are being sorted out. Ouran Academy is known for its safety and surveillance so she may be permitted to attend if she really wants. You can guess all of this would need a bit of time to digest. She needs some space to breath; her father's funeral was today and she's adjusting to being an orphan. The best thing right now for her is for you to be understanding and leave her be."

The boys nodded and took the hint. They left, calling the others members to let them know of what they had confirmed.

----

Haruhi finished packing and made it to the police station without falling asleep. Barely awake, she sent a text message to her friends.

"Guys, I'm sorry for all the trouble I've caused. Please don't worry so much about me, I'm fine. You guys have more important things to do, right? I understand and I hope you do too. This is nothing I can't handle. ~Haruhi."

Haruhi didn't know whether or not they knew what was going on but she just hoped they would relax. She refused to bring down her friends with her.


	3. F&R Chapter 3: Living Arrangements

F&R – Chap. 3

Entering the station, the chief motioned Haruhi into his dimly-lit office.

A lawyer, the chief and Haruhi sat and let heavy-eyed girl read a letter from her father. Haruhi scanned it twice, loving the sound of his voice she could hear in her head.

"Dearest Haruhi,

I know you are reading this, at least I hope you are. I'm sorry I didn't tell you anything. If you were somehow wondering, yes I did know that someone was coming after me. But I didn't want to scare you into doing something irrational like stopping something I knew couldn't be stopped. You always take everything onto your own shoulders, and I didn't want to burden you further. I left any information I have for the police to help find the man who's after me as soon as possible so he can't harm you. I want you to be safe. I also want you to know that I love you and I'll be thinking of you always. Live on my precious daughter. Be happy. I have found someone to care for you and I hope you won't hate me for it.

With all my love,

~Ryoji Fujioka~"

Tears poured down Haruhi's cheeks and she sobbed twice before bringing her composure back.

"Haruhi, I know you're probably tired but we still have to look over the will. It will present you your soon-to-be living arrangements. It may be strange to you but it has already been approved by the other party." The chief looked her over and then handed her another piece of paper, the will.

Haruki read it and couldn't believe her eyes.

"First, I leave all of my lady stuff to Haruhi. She might want some of the nicer things or else sell them somewhere, it's up to her.

Second, the apartment will be sold and the money will be transferred to Haruhi's bank account.

Third, all of the money in my bank account, any of them, and all of the extra savings accounts will be either transferred to her account or put in her name.

Fourth, I am leaving Haruhi in the care of a trusted friend I have recently met so Haruhi doesn't have to changes schools and leave her good friends. She will be living with the Hitachiin's and Mr. and Mrs. Hitachiin have already accepted and would love to have her to keep company with their sons. A room will be made up for her beforehand. I know they are good people and will take good care of her.

Fifth, anything that Haruhi does not want from the apartment will be sold and the money will be given to Haruhi.

If anything displeases her, give her my apologies but this is the best and only way I will rest peacefully.

Ryoji Fujioka"

Haruhi couldn't believe it; she was going to be living with Hikaru and Kaoru?

Her heavy heart fluttered and her stomach flipped. _That should be interesting._

The chief spoke. "Ms. Fujioka, you will be staying at the station for the night as the Hitachiins have been notified of your arrival being tomorrow."

"We don't think so," two voices chorused together. They were voices Haruhi could recognize anywhere.

"As if she would sleep in a lumpy bed at the police station-" Hikaru started.

"When she has a safe place to sleep at our house-" Kaoru continued.

"Fit for a princess," they finished together.

Haruhi almost laughed but was too worn out.

They spoke to the chief for a bit, guaranteeing him that they would protect her with their lives and saluted him. They then pulled Haruhi out of her chair and took her and her small duffel bag into the waiting limousine.

"Thank-" Haruhi started but Hikaru cut her off.

"Why didn't you tell us? Do you think we're stupid? What kind of friends would we be if we couldn't be a help for you in a time like this? That text message was ridiculous and everyone thinks you don't believe in them as friends."

Haruhi spoke quietly, guilt seeping into her pores once more. "I-" she hesitated. "How did you know?"

"First we heard a rumor going around school that a transvestite male had been murdered in your neighborhood and we immediately thought it was your dad and that's why you were so down in spirits. But we didn't want to make assumptions and we were sure you'd tell us if your father had been murdered. Then Kyouya told us he had been notified of the police activity around your last name and we were sure something was going on. Later today, the detective outside your door told us everything and the danger you're in and we were told to leave and give you some air. After we dropped the idiot king off, our mother called us and told us you'd be living with us starting tomorrow, but we couldn't wait." Kaoru took a deep breath; he hadn't paused once in his explanation.

Hikaru looked hard at Haruhi. "We'll protect you, if you let us."

Haruhi truly smiled for the first time in what seemed to her to be an eternity.

The other two sat in the seats across from her so she got up and hugged them. They hugged her back. Haruhi was happy that she had friends like them but still felt a bit uncomfortable having to depend on them so much.

A phone rang suddenly and it was from Hikaru's pocket. Moving over, he let Haruhi sit between them and each put an arm through hers. He sighed when he saw who it was from. He pressed the speakerphone button and said "Hey Tama-"

"WHAT ARE YOU TWO UP TO?! I'VE BEEN TOLD BY OKAA-SAN THAT MY HARUHI WAS AT THE POLICE STATION AND THEN I HEAR YOU WENT TO THE POLICE STATION AND ARE TAKING _MY_ HARUHI TO YOUR PLACE! BRING HER TO MY HOUSE RIGHT THIS INSTANT! I DON'T TRUST YOU TWO! WHAT ARE YOU LITTLE DEVILS PLANNING TO DO WITH MY HAR-"

Hikaru's short temper and twitchy nerves shot out like a rocket and exploded at the loud-mouthed call. "SHUT UP YOU IDIOT MAN. WHO'S THE PERVERT?! YOU'RE THE ONE WITH THE WEIRD THOUGHTS! AND SINCE WHEN WAS SHE _YOU'RE_ HARUHI???"

A sudden light bulb flicked on above Hikaru's head and soon Kaoru had the same light-bulb shining just as brightly.

They both took turns talking.

"Actually, now that you mention it-" Hikaru said with a wicked grin towards Kaoru.

"Just because you said that-" Kaoru returned the grin.

"Maybe we _will_ do something," they laughed together and shut the phone.

Haruhi gulped, glancing nervously between the two.

"Now, now Haruhi, don't be so scared." Kaoru suppressed laughter.

"Yea, we just wanted to freak him out a bit. Oh, we're home." Hikaru laughed freely and gestured out the window to a looming black gate before them.

Haruhi sweat dropped. _Rich bastards, _she thought to herself.

After the limo snaked up a long, stone driveway, the mansion came into view. With looming columns and many floors sitting atop the next, Haruhi couldn't imagine ever even seeing a mansion this size.

The driver came around and opened their door. Hikaru grabbed her duffel bag and Kaoru led the way through the double doors that were twice her height.

"This way," Karou said as Hikaru slung the bag over his shoulder.

The beautiful entryway was two stories high with a white winding marble staircases leading up each side.

"Wow," Haruhi murmured. "This is beautiful."

"We know," they shrugged.

Making their way up the stairs and through never-ending hallways, and then another set of stairs, they finally stopped before a door.

"Well, good night you guys. Thank you for getting me at the station. Um, can I have my bag Hikaru?" Haruhi squirmed, thinking back to the phone call with Tamaki, wanting to get away quickly.

"Here." Hikaru threw it into her arms.

Kaoru smiled at her. "We'll be in the room next door if you need anything. Good night."

They turned and closed the nearby door closed shut behind them.

Haruhi walked into her new room and was surprised by its grand scale.

Too tired to take it all in, she switched into pajamas and flopped onto the mammoth King-size bed and drifted asleep.


	4. F&R Chapter 4: Nightmare

Hi People! sorry I haven't written up here in a few chapters. *sniff* I forgot... DON'T HIT ME! *runs away into corner*

thank you if you've read up to here and I want you to know you get an automatic "awesomeness" super-deluxe (*cough* imaginary *cough*) badge for reading my shtuff!!!

now on with the torturing of characters, *GAG* i mean, show!!

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F&R - Chap 4

Haruhi was deeply asleep and only a couple of hours had passed before the nightmare came to strangle her in sleep. Her father lay on the ground, white as paper and the heat from his body was disappearing quickly; the life was draining out of him right before her very eyes.

A man in a dirty jacket with a hood over his head laughed at the dying man. Haruhi was standing behind a corner of an alleyway close to the bar her father worked at.

She had come to pick him up. The bartender had called, worried about an angry man who had come in yelling at her father.

She had run with bad feeling in her gut and had heard gunshot as she had grown nearer to his workplace. She heard the man spit on the sidewalk and stood, frozen, and hid herself, afraid she was his anger's next victim.

Shot twice in the chest, Ryoji had been murdered by an ugly, short-tempered man whose battered wife had finally left him after years of abuse. She had gone to the bar, seeking refuge only to find help from Ryoiji. The kind and gentle man had told her that she needed to get away and escape from her crazed husband. Ryoiki had quite possibly saved her life.

Haruhi saw the man turn to look at her shivering figure and smiled a crooked, ugly smile, his dirty teeth sticking out in hideous disarray. She looked into his dark eyes and saw pure ugliness.

Unlike what really happened, the police didn't show up in time. The animal raised his warm gun and aimed it at her with a maniacal laugh and Haruhi bolted upright, screaming in terror.

Her stomach continued its churning at full force and Haruhi ran for what she hoped was a bathroom. The first door she opened was a walk-in closet and to her relief, the next opened to a large bathroom.

Whatever was left inside of her violently surged out and Haruhi could hear pounding on her door. She quickly closed the door to the bathroom and locked it.

Reaching up to the sink, she pulled herself up and rinsed her mouth again and again until she heard footsteps in her room.

"Haruhi?!" She could hear Hikaru's voice.

"Uh, yea?" Haruhi's voice was hoarse and barely above a whisper.

The door handle jiggled and Kaoru's concerned voice reached through. "What happened? Are you okay? We heard you screaming. Let us in!"

"I'm, um, fine. H-hold on a second."

Haruhi quickly flushed the toilet and used paper towels to wipe off any splattered grime from the floor or toilet seat. Throwing them into the waste basket, she looked into the mirror for a brief second.

Her normally silky, short hair was in sweaty clumps on her head and her ivory skin was ghostly pale.

Turning, Haruhi unlocked and opened the door.

Two pairs of arms reached out and hugged her tight.

"We thought something happened… or that you were hurt… Are you okay?" Kaoru took a step back and looked anxiously into Haruhi's wide, brown eyes.

"I'm fine. Sorry I woke you up. There was a spider in the bathroom and it surprised me and I killed it and threw it into the toilet. I-I'm really sorry." Lies poured once again from Haruhi's lips; she couldn't bring herself to let them loose sleep over her. "Well, um, good night then." Haruhi looked to the carpeted floor and let her long bangs cover her distressed face. Hikaru was still hugging her tightly and Kaoru had a white hand going through his bed-head of hair.

Suddenly, Hikaru let go and grabbed her chin so she was forced to face them. "Didn't we tell you before? We're not idiots, so don't do such a bad job if you're going to lie! Now tell us what happened. We're your friends! If you can't-"

"I had a nightmare." Haruhi interrupted, looking away. "It was when day my dad was killed. I stood watching my dad die. But during my nightmare the man turns toward me and starts laughing and laughing. He points the gun at me and then–" her voice was cracking and she shut her eyes tightly, trying to force out the nightmare.

Hikaru let go of her chin and wrapped his arms around her, trying to calm her down. He turned his head toward Kaoru and nodded towards the door.

"I'll be right back." Kaoru slipped out of the room and returned a few seconds later with some more blankets and pillows in his arms. "We're not leaving you in here alone. Don't even try and argue."

Hikaru let go without looking at her and helped his brother with the blankets.

Haruhi nodded. Her mind didn't have the energy to fight back; it was too afraid of the hellish nightmare returning.

Silently, they arranged the pillows and blankets so that they would all be comfortable.

They fit easily into the giant bed and Haruhi slept between the two, hugging each other.

"Thank you." Her whisper was drowsy and sweet.

Haruhi snuggled into the warmth and fell asleep quickly and peacefully.

* * *

Hope it didn't weird you out! :D


	5. F&R Chapter 5: Spoiled Teens

Please enjoy! And if I made mistakes, I'm sorry... *sniff* I'm a stupid head sometimes... okay, all the time...

:D Yes, I'm a weirdo! and proud of it!

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F&R - Chap 5

"Haruhi! Rise and shine- WOAH! What are _THEY_ doing in _MY_ Haruhi's bed?!?" Tamaki came stumbling into the room and woke the two twins.

Though not as bad as the Shadow King, Kyouya, they don't like being woken up.

"WHAT ARE YOU DOING IN OUR HOUSE? GO AWAY!" they screeched together.

Kaoru rubbed his stiff neck. "Hmph. I told all the maids to be on lock-down! Nobody is allowed in without ID… I told them to keep the idiot king out with no exceptions…"

Tamaki gave a princely look. "Those cute little lady maids happily let me in this morning. I tried to get in last night and found these two creepy guys in black suits…" Tamaki shivered. "Anyways… where's Haruhi? They told me this was her room."

Kaoru and Hikaru looked around the room. Haruhi had been snuggled between the two but since she was gone, the twins had only been snuggling one another.

They began panicking.

"Where did she go!?" Kaoru anxiously slipped out of bed.

Hikaru followed suit. "Maybe she ran away… but why!? Does she hate us that much!?"

They looked around the room and her duffel bag was still sitting next to the end of the bed.

Tamaki suddenly realized what they meant. "You LOST Haruhi??!... and why were you two SLEEPING IN HER BED?!"

The door to the bathroom suddenly opened and a wet Haruhi came out with only a towel around her small frame.

A crimson red gathered into each of the boys' cheeks when they saw her scanty wear.

"Excuse me." Haruhi looked sleepy and reached down to grab the duffel bag and walked briskly back into the bathroom, locking the door behind her.

She had grown since her first year and all of the hormonal boys noticed her flat chest wasn't so flat anymore.

A thought suddenly dawned on Haruhi inside the bathroom. _Was that Tamaki standing by the bed?_

"Oh well," she murmured to herself.

Outside of the Haruhi's thought bubble, the boys were looking in all different directions, away from each other.

Tamaki stood frozen on the spot and was getting all heated up. He melted into a small lump on the floor and the fully-awake twins looked at each other and began laughing hysterically.

Tamaki burst out suddenly. "I CANNOT leave her to you two…you…you… PERVERTS!!!"

Kaoru rolled his eyes and stretched with Hikaru to crack his back.

"Like we said yesterday, YOU'RE THE ONE WITH THE WEIRD THOUGHTS," the two were already planning a way to get back at the impulsive feudal lord.

"WHY DON'T YOU TWO-" started Tamaki but Haruhi entered the room once more.

"What are you guys yelling about?" Haruhi was annoyed by the ongoing yelling she had to listen to and wanted them to calm down. Her head was beginning to ache. Dressing hadn't taken long and she was just hanging her towel to dry on the door.

"Why were they in your bed??! Haruhi! Answer me!! Did they do something to you?!" Tamaki ran to her and shook her shoulders, causing awful dizziness in her head.

"TAMAKI! Quit it before her head rolls off of her shoulders." Hikaru stepped in and Haruhi just held onto her head, hoping the room would quit spinning.

Kaoru nudged his brother and whispered into his ear. Hikaru understood immediately.

They started with a sly smile and walked right up to Tamaki.

"Oh Tamaki, you should have seen Haru-chan's sleeping face. She was so cute!" Kaoru prodded the blonde with his elbow.

"Yea, she snuggled up to us and slept like a baby. Too bad you've never been given the _privilege_ to see her sleeping face." Hikaru laughed and poked Tamaki's stiff side.

The merciless twins leaned on one another's shoulders and stood right in front of the wide-eyed victim of their pestering. "I guess she just doesn't trust you enough," they finished him off with another set of grins.

Teary, Tamaki sat in the corner wallowing in his own depression, mushrooms growing out of his head once more.

Haruhi sighed and secretly promised herself to keep the twins out of her room that night.

A phone buzzed and Tamaki fliped it open to his ear and says "Yea?" in a pitiful little voice.

A bright, shiny, and extremely happy light bulb brilliantly shines out on top of Tamaki's head. "I've got it. I need to talk to them," he says gaily and snaps the phone closed.

As if reborn, the princely character drops all the mushrooms and stands up and smiles towards the waiting friends.

"I've decided!! We are going to have dinner party. Here. Everyone in the host club will attend. Since Haruhi can't come out, they are coming here. It'll be great, and I can protect you from those two little devils...."

"What makes you think you can just invite everyone over to _our_ house?" The brothers stared his hopefulness down and Tamaki turned his watering puppy dog eyes toward them, full-force.

"Hmph, fine. But… you get to talk to our mom." They smirked at that and Tamaki looked triumphant. "Done," he responded and pranced from the room.

Kaoru sat down with Hikaru on the bed and lay down. "What do we do now?" He asked this more from the forgotten Haruhi than from his brother.

"I dunno. You two are the ones that live here."

"How 'bout a tour?" Kaoru gets up again.

"Sounds good, but how 'bout you two get dressed first?" Haruhi laughed at the wrinkled tank top and short combination that matched nicely with their messy hair. They looked each other over and left the room after telling her they would come back in 20 minutes after a shower.

Haruhi inspected her pale face in the mirror. Her hair was growing a bit longer than usual but only by an inch or two. It was still short enough for her to be easily mistaken as a guy. Its silkiness and dark brown color slid from beneath her fingertips and she decided to clean up the room a bit. She started with making the bed and folding the extra blankets and piling them with the extra pillows by the door so they would be returned to their original places. Then she folded up her own pajamas and put them back in the duffel bag and went to throw that into the walk-in closet she had found the night before.

Looking at it again, she noticed its tremendous size. About the size of her old room, it had places for jewelry, shoes, and every different kind of accessory or piece of clothing that one could imagine.

She guessed that she would never end up using it much anyways and just left the duffel bag on a large shelf that she could easily reach to get what she needed.

_This sure isn't like home... dad I hope you see this from up there. I bet you wish you had one of these! _Haruhi laughed at what she imagined her father's reaction would be to her new lifestyle.

After turning off the lights and shutting the door, Haruhi opened the second pair of thick, beautifully woven curtains to get some more natural light into the room. For the first time, Haruhi noticed the balcony and opened the door for the briefest moment until she shivered in the brisk fall air that rushed in. Her sleeveless shirt and jeans were thin enough to be comfortable in the warm mansion and she hadn;t even thought about the weather outside, not that she had to.

Closing and locking it, Haruhi turned back and waited patiently on the bed after having gotten her textbook from the closet.

Studying always kept her busy and before she noticed the time pass, the freshly cleaned twins emerged from the door and called her name.

They wore socks and jeans with t-shirts. Hikaru wore blue and Kaoru wore orange but otherwise they matched as usual. Their hair was styled perfectly and they only looked a bit drowsy now.

On her way out the door, Hikaru commented on her cleaning. "You know we have maids for that, right?" but the words came out harsher than he'd thought they would.

"It gives me something to do." Haruhi said it shortly and didn't look at Hikaru.

"Okay, let's start from the top." Kaoru didn't like the tension and led the way to an elevator.

Pressing the number six, Haruhi couldn't believe they had such a large amount floors. There must be over a 100 rooms in the mansion and she doubted they would have enough time to even _run_ by them all.

A bell dinged and out they walked. The carpet below their socked feet was soft and clean. With gold and brown patterns, it looked brand new and matched in with the wall color and furnishings beautifully.

They walked through the expanse of the house and Kaoru went on to dully explain a theater, the meeting rooms, a ball room, offices, dining halls, and anything else that seemed almost worthwhile knowing. Hikaru said nothing the whole way.

Haruhi was tired and her stomach was growling by the time they made it down to the first floor with the huge game room and massive kitchens.

The Hitachiins had one kitchen for chefs and waiters to buzz around in during events and another for personal use with stocked cupboards, pantries, shelves, and fridge.

"I'm hungry," Hikaru moaned as they sat down on the stools at one of the 10 foot counters.

"Since neither of us knows how to cook anything, Haruhi, make us something." Kaoru looked at Haruhi with a look that told her she didn't have a choice.

She sighed and agreed.

"We'll be in the game room. Don't blow anything up." Kaoru stood and left with Hikaru in the same step.

Easily finding everything she needed for anything her imagination could come up with, she decided on something nicer than usual.

First, she made a sushi platter of anything she could think of and then made some noodles and sauce for heavier food. She made some side dishes and placed the closest tableware she could find and set the large table for three.

As she was finishing up some more rolls, a maid walked in looking for her.

"Ms. Fuijoka? We have been told to let you know that the Lady of the house will be returning tomorrow and wants to meet with you. There is no need to tell the boys for it is none of their concern, according to Mrs. Hitachiin. She will see you then." The maid left just as abruptly as she'd come. Haruhi continued on with the last roll and went to find the boys.

"The foods ready," she called into the noisy and darkened room.

"Finally, I thought we would have to eat each other if we didn't get some food soon." Kaoru and Hikaru walked past her and went to the kitchen.

"Did you get the chef to do this for you?" Hikaru asked.

Haruhi narrowed her eyes and replied, "No, I didn't."

Haruhi explained the different dishes but the twins mostly ignored her so they just sat and ate quietly.

After finishing, they all felt full and ready to do something else so the boys went to play on the game station in one of the living room's plasma televisions.

Before anybody even got the chance to sit down, Tamaki called and told them Mori and Honey-senpai couldn't make it today so they would do have a fun food thing at the host club meeting next Friday. At some point Tamaki pleaded to come over but the twins yelled at him and teased him a bit before hanging up and proceeded to call the security office they had near the front gate to give them a heads up for Tamaki's limousine.

Haruhi watched them start the game but was soon ordered to get drinks and walked to the kitchen and got them sodas only to be told they were the wrong kind and had to go back because they stated that: "We can't drink this kind! It's too… boring."

Haruhi got them the "exciting" soda and decided to go back up to her room to study some more. It was much better than being just another maid to be pushed around by the spoiled brats.

* * *

If I make any mistakes, please let me know. I'm only human, right?

Thank you for reading! Please let me know what you think? ...please?

(^^^^double^^^^)


	6. F&R Chapter 6: Saying Too Much

Hey peoples :D

Another update, and I've survived. Yay!

I know I might have misspelled Kyoya's name. In the anime's subtitles, it was spelled "k-y-o-y-a" and some others write it as "k-y-o-u-y-a" but let me know which it really is. Thank you :)

I hope this chapter isn't too confusing but, really, think about the previous chapters, wouldn't you be pretty annoyed about being treated like a maid after having so much to deal with already?? Poor Haruhi....

and I have a lot more in store for her.... Mhuahahahaha. "Here come the dramaaaa!"

I hope the twins don't seem too mean or different from their real characters, I try really hard to not change them around (I love them the way they are!) but seemed like the kind who aren't used to having friends over and don't really know how to treat a friend yet. You'll see what I mean.

don't kill me! They get much nicer! but not until they find out how cruel they are sometimes... the **hard** way.

* * *

~Forgetting and Remembering Chapter 8~

Haruhi stood and watched Hikaru and Kaoru set up their gaming stations. When she was sure they'd forgotten her, Haruhi walked off and found her way to the entryway.

A maid was polishing the doorknobs on the front doors while humming a sweet little tune, not noticing Haruhi's presence.

The sun was already beginning to set and Haruhi wanted to call a classmate to copy the work down for her so she wouldn't be behind. She knew she'd miss most of next week, but hopefully not more.

Thinking about school reminded Haruhi of her original mission so she decided to ask for help. She didn't want to wander aimlessly and get lost.

"Excuse me; do you know how I can get to my room? This place is so huge that there should be a map," Haruhi laughed.

The maid put her polishing rag on her cart of cleaning supplies and reached into her apron's front pocket, saying with a friendly smile: "Here you go. Lucky I was carrying a spare copy around today." She held out a piece of paper with an outline of the building and its rooms with a key to show which numbers go with which rooms.

_Rich bastards,_ Haruhi thought as she sweat-dropped.

The maid made an "x" on the room that was Haruhi's and apologized for not being able to help lead the way, but explained that she had enough chores to keep her awake till midnight.

After embarking on her quest, Haruhi began to recognize the things she passed last night. Haruhi quickly found the familiar furnishing outside her door and went inside.

The girl down sat at a desk she'd found against the wall with her school supplies. Notes, textbooks, extra paper, and miscellaneous pencils and erasers surrounded her and comforted her.

Taking in the scent of her school items, Haruhi finally felt at ease.

Two and a half hours later, Haruhi was still studying with content.

She had already reviewed and re-reviewed all the topics her teacher had reached during class and was now getting ahead of the lessons.

It didn't really matter to her, she would end up having to learn it anyways and right now she had time. It was also good because she wasn't sure how much of a chance she'd have to study later if something came up.

Haruhi felt determined to do well.

It was because of this way of thinking that helped her maintain her scholarship. Even with taking care of the apartment, cooking, and host club activities lasting two hours after school plus shopping for groceries twice a week, that still left Haruhi with a lot of free time on her weekends.

Unlike other kids her age, Haruhi didn't spend her time with friends hanging out and dating boys and acting girly.

Haruhi couldn't even dress like a girl to school and though it didn't matter much, Haruhi didn't have a sort of 'girl-friend' to share all of her thoughts to.

Haruhi didn't know what she would do with herself if there kept on being so little to keep her busy and such a break from contact with other people.

Rolling her wheeled chair back, Haruhi needed some fresh air to cool her buzzing mind.

The glass door noiselessly opened at the gentlest turn of the knob and clicked shut behind her.

The air outside was cold, maybe even more so than in the morning and it was the end of daylight and not a cloud was in sight.

Haruhi imagined how the moon must shine and how the stars must dance once it became darker. The sun's light hadn't given up yet and the sky was still a hazy blue-gray.

Haruhi ran her slender fingers through her hair, which was softly blowing in the breeze.

The trees rustled before her and the forested hills spread themselves out beneath her. She took one last look at the darkening sky and caught sight of a lone star, high above the horizon.

Haruhi felt a horrible loneliness. Now an orphan without a home to call her own, what did she have left?

The host club was there but it would move on. Honey and Mori Senpai had already graduated and didn't have much time left for the club. They only visited on a few occasions and they mostly spent time with one another anyways.

Kyoya, the brains behind the whole operation, wasn't close to anyone. Though his complete separation from human emotion and indestructibility was a façade, a mere poker face, Haruhi knew he still kept his own heart withdrawn from all matters, whether important to him or not. With his short, black hair and cold glasses, he showed no weakness and felt more concerned for income and profit than anything else.

However, then there was Tamaki. He was always helping everybody and doing his best to come close to her, though not in a very normal way. Always calling her his 'daughter', he exasperated her to no limit. The best way she could find to describe him would be as an ignorant saint.

The people she now had to rely on for a place to sleep were the twins - the very same mischievous twins who were hell-bent on teasing her to death.

They'd really changed dramatically over the past year. Hikaru and Kaoru had gotten around to meeting new friends outside of their small, two-person world. The two have also taken quite a few steps to be a little more open to the people who now reach out a new friendship to them.

It was only when the two had nothing there to separate them from the past that they became stuck to their old selves once more.

Haruhi felt that she needed something to tie her down to this new way of life, the same way they did, or she would just fall away and her old self would disappear completely. She didn't want to change into something she was sure she was not. Haruhi just wished there was something there to help hold her in place.

Maybe she was thinking too much. Maybe she was meant to take care of this alone. She was sure she didn't need to bother others about something as troublesome as her delusional fantasies of having someone to always be there for her. Haruhi had imagined her father or mother of being that kind of somebody but they were both gone now.

Looking back at the sky one more time, Haruhi decided to go back inside.

Hunger surprised her and it nudged her about the granola bar sitting in her duffel bag.

Haruhi walked to the closet and noticed from the stillness of the room that footsteps were echoing up the hallway.

Ignoring Hikaru and Kaoru's approach, Haruhi un-wrapped the granola bar. Preparing to have her snack, the twins came inside without closing the door behind them.

They flipped on the main light-switch and it blinded Haruhi's eyes. She'd only been using the desk lamp and her eyes had adjusted to the darkness.

"What is that?" two voices said.

While her eyes were clenched shut, she felt the granola's plastic wrapping slip from her hand.

Finally able to see, Haruhi saw the twins inspecting the snack bar.

"Is this some bizarre commoners' food?" Kaoru sniffed it.

"Wait, that's my-" but before Haruhi could stop him, Hikaru took a chomp of it and frowned. "Oats...and chocolate…?" his face was a scrunched up in disgust and Kaoru held his brother's face.

"Oh, Hikaru! You poor thing, you had to eat something as _horrible_ as that! Do you feel faint? Those cheap chemical flavorings have probably _destroyed_ your delicate taste buds." Kaoru caressed the side of Hikaru's face and gazed into his eyes lovingly.

"You're probably right, but I'll be fine, Kaoru, my sweet brother. *Cough cough*. It's going to be okay." Hikaru was really overdoing it in Haruhi's opinion.

He still had the humiliated bar in his hand and threw it back at Haruhi. Luckily, she dodged it before it could smack her in the face.

"What do you two want?" Haruhi was getting irritated.

"Nothing." Kaoru stood normally once more and Hikaru finished his thought. "We were just bored." With that, they lifted their arms uncaringly and shrugged.

They looked like they were waiting for Haruhi to do something to entertain them but she felt too tired to try.

Stifling a yawn, Haruhi looked at them and spoke. "Hey guys… I know it's still early but I'm pretty wiped out." she massaged her sore neck from leaning over her work. "I don't mean to kick you out but I really wanna go to sleep."

"Psh. You're no fun!" Hikaru stated in annoyance.

"Yeah, you're way too depressing. Earlier, you just got up and left," Kaoru accused.

The boys crossed their arms and went on grumbling and complaining about Haruhi's un-enthusiasm.

Slowly, with each negative thought of their's, Haruhi's temper rose and she swallowed it down with difficulty.

Interrupting whatever the twins might have been saying, Haruhi kept her voice low but sharp.

"Can you two just _please get out_?" She didn't want to be mean but Haruhi felt like she could even stand up much longer.

"You can't order us around!" Hikaru began yelling before he could stop himself. "This is _our_ house. You're just-" but then Kaoru's own anger disappeared at his brother's words and in realization clapped a hand over his outspoken brother's mouth.

Hikaru also realized what he had just been saying when Haruhi turned away from them.

She hadn't turned fast enough and Hikaru got to catch a glimpse of a tear rolling down her cheek.

"I'm sorry Hikaru, Kaoru. I shouldn't have told you what to do. Do what you want," she said, her voice cracking on the last word.

Haruhi moved away and walked out onto the balcony. Locking to door from the outside, Haruhi cried and released her overwhelming sadness out into the dark night.

A series of clouds had appeared and the stars were hidden. Only the cold moon watched her from high above and it did nothing to comfort her.

From the faint light coming out from inside, Haruhi watched the goose bumps rise up on her arms.

Her breath evened out and out of the corner of her eye Haruhi noticed the light turn on in the room next door. A balcony a bit larger was attached to the neighboring room and the curtains in front of the door shifted.

Two pairs of eyes watched her with the same golden color and guilt.

Haruhi looked down and went back inside just as they cracked the door open, surely about to say something to her. She didn't have the energy for them anymore.

Quickly and carefully, Haruhi got ready for bed and washed her tear-streaked face. She could hear yelling in the boys' room and knew they were arguing because of her. Knowing this did nothing to comfort her.

After 10 minutes in the bathroom of cleaning up, she came to find someone's face looking at her ashamedly in the doorway.

"Haruhi? Um, it's me Hikaru. I wanted to… um…" the voice was small and sad.

Haruhi didn't look at him and left only the nightstand light on and sat in bed.

She finally spoke with such deep sorrow that her heart felt heavy and her chest was tight. "Your pillows and blankets are right over there-" she motioned to the neat stack by the open door, "and I apologize for intruding in your home. It wasn't up to me. I'll leave once my father's murderer stops wanting to kill me and find some distant relative to live with."

Tears dripped down the face in the door. "Kaoru, please tell your brother to stop trying to send his brother to apologize for him. Now, if you could, please let me sleep. Good night." With that, Haruhi switched off the last light. The door finally closed with a receding figure and Haruhi finally fell asleep.

* * *

Poor Haruhi :( there's so much... but it'll get worse, I promise XD but then it get's really good for ya, so no worries... unless I'm in a **really** bad mood and kill em all off, but I hope not! If I do, then I'll end up changing it to hapilly ever after anyways XD

Please let me know what you think and if there should be anything different :)


	7. F&R Chapter 7: New Danger

Hello again! Hugs and Ice creams for everyone who's made it this far!! It really means a lot to me :)

There's much more to come! w00t!

I want to say a special thank you to everyone who has subscribed to me story and/or had reviewed. Thank you Icetiger 13, SilentMelody333, twilight-twins2, sophiereiko1989, queen34 (), TOYA and KYOYA, Arashi-senpai, MinawaAsuka, Udalumis, puffysalmander, animegirl305, kamesita, Narutofreaks123, AlaskenWildflower, Nears Twin, FairyFluff, IxHatexYouxButxIxLovexYou, and Shizuka Fujita. (I really tried writing down everyone, so if I miss you, but I reeeeaaalllyyyy hope I didn't, please, please forgive me. I tried my best :) .)

Now, on with the story!!

* * *

Forgetting and Remembering Chapter 7 - EH

Haruhi hadn't even remembered the nightmare from the night before when she'd gone to sleep and she'd assumed it was a one-time thing only. Not only wasn't it gone, it was worse.

The nightmare came back in all its merciless cruelty and an evil twist. The change was that when the sickening man turned his gun towards her, Haruhi realized the inevitable was coming and she knew the scream was coming as well. That just made things worse, knowing I mean.

In her mind, she couldn't handle having the twins running in again. They surely both hated her for her weakness and miserable attitude. She should be thankful and more cheerful about how she had somewhere to live but it was just too difficult.

Not only was she alone but she felt even more scared to cry out to those she knew couldn't have there.

The scream built up inside of her and as it reached at her throat for freedom, she felt something soft beneath her fingers and put it over her mouth right as the scream came forth.

At the same moment, she turned away and felt something hit her, hard.

Waking, Haruhi sat up sorely and realized she wasn't in bed anymore. The thing that had hit her was only the floor.

"Ow." She'd landed her arm. Unluckily, Haruhi bruised easily and her arm was already swelling up a bit.

Getting up, the pained girl made her way to the washroom in the early dawn's light.

She knew it was still early but the dream still crawling on her skin scared her. She just wanted it to go away.

After showering and dressing in a navy blue v-neck t-shirt and her jeans, her legs were restless and she needed to walk.

Haruhi softly tiptoed by the neighboring room with its sleeping inhabitants and got into the first elevator she could find.

Lighting up a random floor button, Haruhi spent a half hour walking around part of one floor and then started taking whatever staircases she saw. With no sense of direction, Haruhi was contently lost.

All the doors were closed and Haruhi didn't want to go sticking her nose into places it wasn't welcome. It wasn't her house, after all.

She thought about what Hikaru had said the night before and found it so bluntly true that it hurt.

_Dad, why did you make me come live with them when they're so against it? They're mad at me now!_

Question was, how did he even know the Hitachiins?

Haruhi's thoughts stopped when she spotted an open door.

Not meaning to be nosy, she only saw from a sideways glance that it was an office.

"Oh! Haruhi! What a lucky coincidence, come in!" A woman came out from the room and approached a surprised Haruhi. Her golden eyes were happy and youthful. It was Mrs. Hitachiin.

Haruhi was pushed into a chair and Mrs. Hitachiin sat in a chair across from her.

The room was very large and had a beautiful view of the scenery surrounding the estate. With rich mahogany tables and soft leather seats and a grand fireplace against a wall, the room was probably a great work environment.

Mrs. Hitachiin was a beautiful woman and had this inner strength that Haruhi could see in the friendly eyes. The woman was in her mid-thirties and was obviously extremely successful and high up in aristocracy.

"So Haruhi, wait, is it okay if I call you that?" Haruhi nodded and Mrs. Hitachiin continued, all the while gazing into Haruhi's deep eyes. "Are you comfortable? I know you've been through a lot already. I hope the boys have been on their best behavior."

At the last sentence, Haruhi winced and again remembered the day before and how they'd acted towards her.

"They've been bothering you, haven't they? I saw that look in your eyes." The mother took Haruhi's hands and apologized for her sons. "I'm so, so sorry. It's just.., they're not really… used to having people here. They treat everyone so much like they're their own little servants and harass them to no end." She laughed. "Please, don't take it to heart. And then there's Hikaru with his bad temper, I know, and Kaoru really tries to calm it down but sometimes it's too much. Hikaru is an idiot most of the time, but he doesn't mean it. I'm just… so sorry. I really know they care about you so much and you've changed them so much from what I hear from Kyoya."

"It's okay, Mrs. Hitachiin. Please, don't apologize for them. It's my fault for intruding in their lives like this. I guess they're okay with me when they only see me at school and club but this is more than they want. I wasn't part of the decision so I couldn't have changed this if I wanted to…. They were being honest when they said that this was their home and that I'm… an outsider." Haruhi couldn't look at Mrs. Hitachiin anymore.

"Oh no! No, no, no!" Mrs. Hitachiin came forward and hugged Haruhi. "Not at all! They're just being spoiled _brats_. I can't believe they said that to you, haven't I taught them anything? Maybe I should teach those monkeys some manners…" She was talking to herself with a dark aura around her with a sudden evil glint in her eyes and thoughts of ways to punish the boys swirled atop her head.

The mind bubble popped and she she looked back at Haruhi with a friendly smile once more. _Does she have a dual personality?_ Haruhi wondered.

"Oh, there're some things I wanted to discuss. One of them was about how you came to… uh, live here. Well… you see, your dad and I met once when I was out at the bar he works at. I had a _bit_ too much to drink…" Mrs. Hitachiin laughed at the memory. "Ryoji was really nice to me and calmed my craziness down and call a taxi. He was the first guy who didn't try taking me home to their own places... I'm a happily married woman and talking to a male transvestite who was worried about why I'd been drinking in the first place was comforting, but strange to think back on… So, anyways, he listened to how I'd been stressed about deadlines and the coldness of Hikaru and Kaoru to everyone other than themselves. It was pretty bad back then for the two. He had told me about how he had a child at home too, but he said the trouble was with your trouble relying on anyone. I got so comfortable around him, I was sad when the taxi came." She laughed again.

"I came back every once in a while and he would help me de-stress about work and not spending time with the boys. He was a good friend.

"One day, he was upset and had called me about needing someone to talk to. I rushed to see him and he told me about a, uh, a death threat that was hanging above his bed. He said that he knew would it be worse if he fought back. He said the man had 'connections' and that if he made it worse then you might be in danger. He was prepared to let things unfold as they may and he became calm as he told me. He knew what he was up against, I guess. I couldn't argue with him and I did what I could to make him promise me he knew was he was doing. I told him that after he'd be, um, gone, you would always have a place to live and someone to care for you."

Mrs. Hitachiin had sat back into a seat, but instead of the one across the shiny coffee table, it was the one right beside Haruhi

"I thought it was best, what with your friendship with Hikaru and Kaoru, but it's not going that well so far… and there's more that might worry you." Haruhi had begun tearing up at how her father really had known and said nothing to her and now her eyes widened only further.

"What do you mean? What more?" Haruhi worried that maybe someone else was in danger.

"You see… there's an issue. The man who killed your father was also looking for you. You're dad was quiet about it in vain. Though, it wasn't too bad then and the police had gotten close to catching him… but…." Mrs. Hitachiin's eyes narrowed in worry.

She had to take a few breaths before going on. "Um… well, the man seems to have found help from an old friend that owed a favor. This is bad, because now he's not just one violent man; it's a whole mass of them. The friend was a sort of drug lord in some district. It's a scary district. You're in even more danger now, Haruhi. I don't think you'll be leaving this house for a while. Not even for school and I've called the principal and Kyoya to alert your friends. He said he'll have them come over straightaway to see you. He also has something for you, but he wouldn't tell me what. Something to make you feel better, I guess."

Haruhi was in shock and couldn't breathe. Her mind was blank and her stomach twirled around in little flips. She hadn't listened to the last part because what was so very serious to her was that she was wanted by someone and that would put everyone else in danger.

"It's a lot, I know, but it'll be okay, you're safe here." Mrs. Hitachiin got up and buzzed an intercom leading to the maid service room. "Can we have some hot breakfast for Ms. Fujioka in the kitchen and tea ready for some guests that will be arriving in the next hour in the first floor tea room? Oh, and then can I have someone to escort Ms. Fujioka downstairs from my office immediately?"

A friendly voice answered, "Yes ma'am."

"You should eat Haruhi. I promised your dad that I would take care of you and I can't have you getting any thinner." Mrs. Hitachiin helped Haruhi up and offered a hand to help her to the door.

A maid knocked on the door and came in to help Haruhi's swaying figure to wherever the kitchen might be.

It seemed to take forever until they got there and Haruhi slumped in the wooden chair she sat in.

At the table, there was a great display of breakfast laid out for three.

_I hope they don't see me like this. It'll just annoy them more. Anyways, I'm fine, right? She said I was safe and I only have to stay inside. I'll just call Ryo-kun from class and ask him for the work. It's going to be fine. And I'll just worry Mrs. Hitachiin if don't look healthy and if I don't eat…_

Haruhi lifted the blue bowl sitting on top of a cheerful yellow plate and scooped some oatmeal into it.

Adding some strawberry jam and a little bit of milk, Haruhi sat in the silence and ate her breakfast.

With a glass of milk to top off the oatmeal, Haruhi felt fuller but her mind was still numb and edgy.

She sat there for a while and stared off into the bottom of her empty bowl, unfazed by the passing of time.

Running footsteps came from outside the kitchen and a group of people she had known so well stopped all around her, worry emblazoned in their eyes.

It snapped Haruhi's attention back to the real world and she had to blink twice to realize it was real.

Even Mori, the tall, blank-faced graduate was looking out of place. His black hair was in its usual short, spiked form and he hadn't really run, but instead took quick steps with his long legs. His mouth was slightly open and his eyes wider than usual.

"Haru-chan!" Honey wrapped his arms around Haruhi's waist on her left side and Tamaki knelt by her right leg. He took her hand and looked at her with sad, puppy-dog eyes. "Haruhi," was all he said.

"G-Guys?" Haruhi could barely find her voice and it came as a whisper. She was bewildered at their arrival and hadn't noticed the time pass by. Had it really been an hour?

Tamaki looked up at her with some bizarre determined look and clenched his hand in determination. "Don't worry Haruhi, Da-"

Kyoya hit him with the booklet he carried around. "Idiot."

Haruhi tried to smile at their usual foolishness and found it easier with the comfort of having them around her. She wasn't quite as alone as she thought.

"Are you okay, Haru-chan?" Honey looked up at her with his own puppy-dog eyes. Haruhi nodded and patted his soft head of hair.

"Hey Haruhi, what's with your arm?" Tamaki pulled up the short sleeve of her shirt and examined the large bruise on her upper arm. It was from when she'd fallen out of bed.

"Oh, um, I fell out of bed. It's fine." Haruhi brushed his hand away and pulled the sleeve back in place.

"What are you guys doing here?" Haruhi had remembered Mrs. Hitachiin having them invited them over and even though she was glad to have them, they must have been pulled from whatever they had been doing.

"You think we would ignore something like this and let you sit alone?" Tamaki was shocked that even now she would depend on no one. She didn't answer.

"You must think very low of us, Haruhi," Kyoya added.

A maid walked in and smiled at the gathering. "There's tea and some sweets ready for you in another room. May I escort you there?"

"You'll feel much better if you have some cake, Haru-chan!" Honey grabbed her hand and pulled her from the chair.

She laughed and tried her best not to fall over. Mori noticed her slight difficulty with her still-weakened coordination and lifted her up the way he did at Kyoya's indoor water-park.

"Um, thanks Mori-senpai." Haruhi was slightly embarrassed but her legs were so wobbly, she really could object much without looking worse than before.

He responded with an "uhn."

Haruhi calmly told them everything she knew, skipping everything about the twins and explained their absence as tiredness from playing too many video games.

Her friends sat and stayed and her and Honey shared a strawberry cake and Tamaki tried to feed her strawberries and melted with happiness when she accepted crying "she's so cute!!!"

They left after what seemed no time at all and told her that it was already really late and after dark.

Haruhi walked with them to the door and hugged Honey, telling everyone that she felt a lot better with them having visited her.

The mansion felt quiet and Haruhi was surprised she hadn't seen the twins and walked up to her room. She locked the door and studied until she felt so exhausted that she was sure she'd sleep heavy enough that she wouldn't be able to dream.

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I didn't edit as much as I normally do (which is _a lot_) so if there are any mistakes, let me know and I'll fix it, 'kay?

Thank you again and I'm sorry for the length. there was a lot to say :) Tell me what length you guys want and I'll do that. I love opinions and suggestions! If you wanna see something happen, tell me and I'll try and use it :D


	8. F&R Chapter 8: The Twins and a Stranger

F&R Ch. 8: The Twins

~~~The night before~~~

"Hikaru, what should we do? I think we were too harsh…and she was pretty upset already." Kaoru and Hikaru were walking out of Haruhi's room. She had gone out on the balcony and they found no use standing around and waiting for her.

Entering their own room, they didn't say much.

With carpeted floors and never a thread out of place, it was twice the size of Haruhi's with two desks and its own mammoth sized bed. Their closet had two pairs of doors instead of just one and was filled with a lavish wardrobe which was continuously being updated.

Hikaru lay face down on the bed and Kaoru sat thinking beside him. "How about we check out what she's doing on the balcony? Maybe she's gonna' just kill herself…" Hikaru turned his head and glared at his brother. This wasn't the time for kidding around.

"Come on then." Kaoru pulled his brother up and they both moved behind the sheer curtain still in front of the door. Holding their breath, they slipped it to the side to look at Haruhi.

She stood there with tears on her face and shivered continuously in the night air.

"She looks lonely," Kaoru whispered.

Suddenly, Haruhi turned and looked at them.

Kaoru reached for the knob and was about to go out but she twisted around and went back inside of her room.

"I think we should apologize, Hikaru. We'll tease her when she's in better spirits, you know? But right now, I think we should cheer her up."

Kaoru was trying to soothe his brother into apologizing.

Hikaru was a hard-headed guy and didn't like having to admit he'd done something wrong. Kaoru might have been the younger twin but Hikaru had a much stronger tendency to act like a spoiled child.

"No." He crossed his arms. "She's acting like a girl."

"Did you ever stop to think that she _is_ a girl? Her dad just died, and we're not helping at all. C'mon, we have to at least apologize to her. We'll do it together." Kaoru put his hands on Hikaru's shoulders and hoped desperately his stupid sibling would give in for once. "Please," he whispered.

Hikaru turned his head down and let his bangs cover his eyes. "No."

Kaoru sighed and let go. "If you don't apologize, she won't be able to forgive you."

"If it bothers you that much, do it yourself." Hikaru pulled his shirt off and threw it at Kaoru.

Kaoru sighed and pulled the warm shirt on. "Okay."

He tip-toed out the door and stopped in front of her door.

_She might be able to tell us apart during the day, but now that she's upset, there'd be no way, right? _Kaoru worried to himself.

He tried to mentally prepare himself but he was too nervous and edgy so he just did his best to relax.

"Haruhi?" He could see her as she turned off all the lights and sat down on the bed with only the nightlight left.

"Um, it's me, Hikaru. I wanted to, uh…" Kaoru wasn't sure how to say it right but he just kept his head more out of view of the light.

She interrupted his effort and spoke with a sad and hollow voice. "Your pillows and blankets are right over there-" she motioned to the neat stack right by his leg, "and I apologize for 'intruding in your home.' It wasn't up to me. I'll leave once my father's murderer stops wanting to kill me and then find some distant relative to live with."

Guilty tears gathered and fell from his eyes. They'd really hit below the belt.

"Kaoru, please tell your brother to stop trying to send you to apologize for him. Just please let me sleep. Good night." Haruhi reached her hand out and flicked the last light off.

Kaoru grabbed the stack and tried to quietly close the door.

He went back to his room where Hikaru lay on his side.

Kaoru threw the pile in his hands at Hikaru, which made him turn and look surprised at Kaoru's still-wet face.

"She said she'll move out once the man who killed her father is caught and live with a distant relative. You should have apologized."

Kaoru went into their bathroom and got himself ready for bed while Hikaru changed into his pajamas. He left Kaoru's pajama's waiting for him on the bed and Kaoru gave Hikaru his turn in the bathroom.

They went to sleep quietly and woke late in the morning to the sound of knocking on their door.

"You get it, Hikaru." Kaoru was still tired and wanted to sleep more.

"Geez. COME IN!" Lazy bum as he was, he didn't really care who it was. It couldn't be Haruhi, because in his opinion, she surely wouldn't be talking to them anytime soon.

The door creaked open and a maid walked in, smiling. "Your mother requests your presence immediately. Breakfast will be served in her office."

"What does she want this time? You think the new designs are in?" Kaoru wondered out-loud for a while and got dressed quickly. Who knew what that demon-mother would do if they were too slow again…

Upon entering the office, a cold glare looked up from her coffee. "So, mom, what's up?" they asked.

"Sit, you morons." She wasn't in a happy mood.

They did as was told and started in on the breakfast laid out on the coffee table.

"I had Haruhi in here this morning. She was walking by, completely lost, and the poor child was miserable thanks to _the two of you._" Mrs. Hitachiin sipped her drink and gritted her teeth.

The twins sweat-dropped and kept eating; it might just be their last meal, after all.

"She won't be attending school at all until things have calmed down. You guys have no idea what danger she is in now, do you? You spend your time teasing her and don't stop to think of what she's going through right now." Mrs. Hitachiin sighed.

She looked at the twins as they kept eating. Hikaru reached for a glass of orange juice and she continued, annoyed with their insensible behavior. "In case you care, the killer found an ally in some drug lord and a whole gang is out to get her now."

Hikaru choked on the juice and Kaoru got the bread he'd been chewing on stuck in his throat and had to cough a lot to be able to breathe once more.

"How were we supposed to know!? And how do the police find out this and still can't catch the guy?!" Kaoru snapped unthinkingly at his mother, frustrated that the situation just keeps getting worse.

"Don't yell at me. You two I hope are feeling at least a little ashamed, but maybe I should make sure you got it that you're a couple of idiots when it comes to other people's feelings." The sadistic mother pulled them by their ears to the "reprimand room."

The "reprimand room" was an old supply closet in Mrs. Hitachiin's office that had become worthless after the room had been rebuilt. Their mother had used it a couple of times to put them in "time-out".

It was a creepy place, filled with spiders and other crawly creatures. It had been left unclean and unattended just for the purpose of the twins.

Though neither thought of it as scary anymore, it was bare and was missing any sort of entertainment at all. Once, when they tried escaping through the window, Mrs. Hitachiin decided to add jail bars to the only window.

"How were we supposed to know…?" Kaoru felt even worse about the night before.

"We weren't! They all just like making us feel like jerks." Hikaru was mad, but mostly at himself. He didn't even apologize.

"If only that demon woman hadn't put us in here, we could have gone to talk to Haruhi. I wonder how she's holding up." Kaoru was trying to imagine Haruhi being unfazed by this, but not even she can be that thick-headed.

"Tch, what are we going to do now?"

"We're going to wait." Kaoru closed his eyes and tried drifting off and Hikaru leaned against his brother and did the same.

~~~~~~~~~~~Haruhi continued~~~~~~~~~

There was quick knocking at the door and Kyoya stepped in without an answer.

"Haruhi, I believe Yuzuha told you I had something for you."

Haruhi looked at him, suddenly remembering. "Wait, Yuzuha? You mean-"

"Mrs. Hitachiin, yes. You're in a lot of danger now, and, since you haven't finished your debt yet, we can't have anything happening to you, now can we?"

Haruhi muttered something to herself about Kyoya never changing and got up from the desk. She'd been doodling in her notebooks because her concentration had been lagging and the shock hadn't quite gone away yet.

"Come in Yori, this is who you'll be watching over from now on.

A tall man stepped in and his aura immediately reminded Haruhi of those bodyguards from the movies. _Oh no,_ Haruhi thought.

The man had dark eyes and a poker face. _Kyoya gets along well with him, I bet._ Haruhi thought the black hair was longer than Kyoya's and the man was taller and didn't even seem to have a business smile. He was good-looking, but Haruhi never noticed things like that. She however did notice that he was only a couple of years older than she was.

"Meet your new bodyguard, Haruhi." With that, Kyoya left without a goodbye and Haruhi was left with an emotionless man, confused.

"Um, I don't really need someone to _protect_ me, you know? They're just going overboard. I'm sure this building is safe enough, so you really don't need to-"

"Don't insult my profession, Fujioka. Whether you want it or not, I'm now working as your body guard." Having him speaking surprised Haruhi and she felt bad that her words had come across the way they did.

"I'm sorry. Uh, I guess I'll just leave you to your work then. I'm pretty tired though, so I'm going to sleep. Where are you, um, sleeping? And ,uh, what exactly are you doing to 'protect me'?"

"I'll be on guard outside of your door for most of the night and then I'll start sleeping once everyone else is asleep as well. I believe I'll be staying with you in your room."

A herd of maids suddenly came to the door with pieces of disassembled furniture in their hands.

Without hesitation, they put the parts together and some male servants came in and put a mattress on top.

Haruhi watched as the maids put new sheets onto the bed and pushed the bed straight so it lined up with Haruhi's bed and the wall nicely.

It had dark blue sheets, instead of the peach colored ones on her bed, and the bed itself was slightly smaller, but pretty large anyways.

A rack of clothing, all dark suits, black or navy button-up shirts, and some leather shoes were put into an empty space within the closet.

"Sorry about the inconvenience, but the security at the mansion isn't used to having any major threats, Fujioka-sama. Everyone is very concerned with your safety and I'll do my best to stay beside you and protect you." He bowed and went out the door, leaving nothing but a twitchy Haruhi behind.

_Really, this is just too much…Even sharing a room…_ A sudden thought occurred to Haruhi. _Where are Hikaru and Kaoru?_

Feeling too agitated to be tired, she tried studying some more. _They're probably playing games or sleeping._

What Haruhi didn't know was that the two twins had gotten out of the reprimand room but Kyoya had met them in their mother's office and explained about everyone coming over for tea.

Hikaru and Kaoru had wanted to see Haruhi and all Kyoya told them was good luck; no warning of the man standing outside of her door. They had no idea how difficult it would be to get to see her again.


	9. F&R Chapter 9: Yori's Kind of Help

**Disclaimer: I do NOT own Ouran High School Host Club, but please enjoy my writing... . sorry I didn't write this is in earlier. *whacks self* stupid me.  
**

**Sorry I haven't updated in a bit. I'm going to skip giving really bad excuses and instead tell you that school is starting, blah blah blah, and I visited the moon (...okay, maybe not, but that's better than the other excuses I have lined up! I wish I had though :D ) **

**Okay, so I have to thank everyone who has reviewed, thank you so much! you guys keep me going *thumbs up***

**I also have to thank anyone who has read this and added me their story alerts and author/story favorite lists. It makes me really happy to know I have some kind of useful existence :D hah.**

**Cookies for all! (Sugar, chocolate chip, or... hm) I wanna know what kind of cookies you guys like! Leave me a review with a weird kind of cookie that you have heard of or have eaten. I made a deer poop cake once XD It was really good at first but all of that _chocolate_ (heh, bet your first thought was ew.) made me sick =P  
**

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Forgetting and Remembering – Chapter 9

Haruhi stirred in bed and rolled onto her left arm. A horrible twang of pain shot up her shoulder and she twirled in shock and surprise. With a rebounding thump, her forehead hit something sharp.

Horrible pain stabbed her head and Haruhi felt herself slam onto the floor.

"Ouch." She winced and rolled over onto her uninjured side. Suddenly, strong arms wind their way around her back and knees.

She was lifted her up and dropped back onto the bed.

Shock struck a cord in Haruhi and she realized that this was the body guard that Kyoya had given her.

"Oh, Yori, thanks." His hand reached up to her forehead and she could feel its warmth. Surprisingly enough, he was careful and very gentle not to cause any pain. When he pulled it back she saw blood on his hand and he reached toward the side table it had hit.

Two drawers down, there was a box of tissues and he handed her two and led her to the bathroom to sanitize it with some bandages and disinfectants he seemed to pull from nowhere.

In the mirror Haruhi noticed the swelling red lump on her head that was oozing dark red blood quickly. The stickiness covered most of her forehead and the tissues were almost completely wet. _It doesn't need stitches, right? _Haruhi wondered to herself.

Before it managed to drool into her eyes, Yori cleaned and bandaged it quickly and gracefully.

"Have you had medical training?" Haruhi wondered about it because it would have made sense with the fact Kyoya had been the one who sent him over and the Otori family was known for having many businesses in medical fields.

"No, I'm just surrounded by klutzes." He smiled and got up to throw the dirtied tissues and bandage wrappings into the waste bin.

Haruhi remember how she'd gotten involved in the host club in the first place and laughed. The term fit her very well.

Yori left to continue with his work and Haruhi took a shower, being very careful not to ruin the bandaging on her head, and got herself ready for another day.

Outside the room, Yori stood on guard and had his arms crossed in front of his chest protectively, thinking about this new job he had.

After getting the call for the third job of his career, he happily accepted the easy task of standing outside a bedroom door all day. There couldn't be many dangers with this and it was a nice promotion from what he used to have to do.

The first job he'd gotten after finishing his training had been for one of the Otori company buildings. It hadn't been difficult, but had gotten more aggravating as time had passed.

Everyday for a whole year, people would try to get inside the building to plead their case of needing to talk to someone important to get help after having their own business shut down. Sometimes they even dragged their poor kids along, and the parent would always pull them angrily because of stress and yell at them to stop crying and act like a good child.

Yori always worried about those little kids, remember the absence of his own parents throughout his childhood and soon began to carry around a little bag of lollipops, no matter how unprofessional it was and tell the mom or dad to stop putting their problems over their kid's heads.

They'd always glance at the child, ashamed and burst into tears of apology. The job made him feel good but he was still annoyed with the parent's ignorance of how to treat their own kid.

Another part of his daily job was that he had to wrestle people away from the door without being too violent and also keep his composure in tact. He had been trained to know that composure was most important and had spent most of time while studying watching sad, scary, or funny movies and trying to keep a straight face at the same time. It had been enjoyable but tiring all the same.

He learned the easiest ways to calm them down and always advised them to find something more productive to do with their time.

The second job he had been called for was an improvement and consisted of being an escort to the eldest Otori brother and making sure he was never, ever in the way.

It had only lasted a few months and though it wasn't as bad as the first, his legs would be sore from all the walking around. He learned to stretch before and after his shift and gradually his leg muscles strengthened and now he could walk a marathon without feeling it the next day.

For this new job, Yori had been up since 6 am and was now only getting the day started. Shaking himself out of his thoughts he noticed that it was only about half past 7 and Haruhi would be getting hungry for breakfast.

A nearby door opened and he glanced at it, watching two boys come out, identical to one another. He had been told that the two were twins and friends of Haruhi. They also the kids of the house but he didn't work for them. The most he had to show was respect.

He'd been told to be wary of them bothering her and that they had been cruel to her the day before and they were usually up to no good.

_I'll keep them away from her until she goes to talk to them herself; she probably still needs some time to be away from them,_ Yori decided.

"I guess the situations really bad, eh?" A boy with his reddish-orange hair parted on the left turned to his brother and pressed his lips together.

"Guess so." The other boy answered and turned and looked me over. "Who are you?" he said, with his hair parted on the right. This one leaned on his double and looked annoyed.

Yori didn't like the two of them already and he was in no means going to let them near the poor girl he was supposed to protect.

"My name is Yori and I'm Ms. Fujioka's bodyguard." Yori shifted his crossed arms and stood tall in front of the two teenage boys.

"We're just going wanna talk to her," they said simultaneously.

The tried to reach for the doorknob but Yori moved in front of it. "I've been instructed to protect her from anyone and anything. I'm sorry but you're an exception."

The right parted guy's temper rose and he tried to push the tall man out of the way but to no avail. He only managed to knock his balance out of order and the left parted guy caught his fall.

"Move, you asshole." Righty was still heated up and he really wanted to punch the guy blocking his way. This was his own house, he can't be told what to do. The problem was that, with his calculations on Yori's rigid, muscled body, hitting the body guard would hurt himself more than his target.

"How about we go eat breakfast, she'll come down sooner or later anyways." Lefty led his brother away and Yori was very decided against letting them get anywhere near Ms. Fujioka. _They're probably a couple of jerks to her._ He knew he was supposed to show 'respect' but he just couldn't acknowledge their selfish and spoiled behavior.

10 minutes passed and finally Haruhi was ready.

She hadn't wanted to get sick from the chilly air conditioning so she gave in to painstakingly blow-drying her hair.

_I don't want to cause any more trouble. Good thing I didn't need stitches. _Haruhi then noticed all of her clothing was gone. Her books and little items had been placed nicely in the closet alongside a wardrobe of girl clothing she definitely wouldn't have even considered owning in her most uncharacteristic dreams. _This really is a bit much…what am I supposed to wear? Everything here is probably worth more than I hope to imagine._

Picking out an almost plain t-shirt and jeans took longer than she had wanted it to but sorting through all of the ribbons and frills had been exasperating. It was like living with her father all over again. The sad reminder caused a ripple in her chest but Haruhi somehow managed to keep her cool. Now was not the time for more crying.

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**Remember: cookies!! XD thank you for reading.**

**School starts on Wednesday... I'll try and update again before then but I don't think it's going to happen.... We'll see, right? Wah, don't stab me with your mob pitchforks!**


	10. F&R Chapter 10: Peace At Last

**Hey Everyone! :)**

**I've just finished editing what I wrote last night and have discovered that I might have more time than I thought... I'll probably (no promises :( ) update again this weekend.**

**I must say, chocolate chip cookies are quite popular... I looked up weird cookies and found nothing... :(**

**Oh well, the classics are always good, eh? :)  
**

**thanks to all the reviews and all the story alert-ing. It means a lot to me (ToT) Wah, thank you!!!  
**

**On to the story! :) Unless you think otherwise....? ^ that is a face.**

**Disclaimer: I DO NOT OWN OURAN HIGH SCHOOL HOST CLUB! It's too brilliant for me to have come up with it.**

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**Forgetting and Remembering – Chapter 10 (Woo! ^.^)**

Haruhi examined her forehead once more before heading downstairs for breakfast. _It's not that bad... Only, my head hurts; maybe I should ask for some pain killers… nah, it's not that bad, really. It'll heal soon anyways._

She knew that it was her own fault it had happened and that she shouldn't be worrying about a sore little scratch.

_Oh, why was it that I fell out of that huge bed in the first place? ... Right, it was my bruised arm from falling out of bed yesterday. I should learn to sleep closer to the middle._ From all the years that Haruhi had spent on the little futon in her room, she had learned to sleep in small spaces. It had been a lot colder and emptier to have slept in the bed that resided in this new room and the only comfort that came to her was when she could feel the edge of the fluffy mattress.

She inspected her injured arm in the mirror as well and was unhappy to see that it wasn't healing very fast. It was a horrible shade she didn't want to begin to describe and swollen into something mean.

Haruhi was at first tempted to try touching it but as her fingertips got close, she knew she'd regret it.

Pulling the sleeve back into place, Haruhi straightened up the room a bit, mainly with her good arm and only winced twice when bumping into something on her right arm.

Giving up on the third wince, her stomach grumbled and Haruhi had the strangest urge to find herself some cereal.

Opening the door, Haruhi almost walked into the forgotten Yori standing outside of her room.

"Oh, hi Yori. Can I get by?" He turned around, not having noticed her small figure and smiled with a step to the side.

"Hungry for some breakfast, Ms. Fujioka?"

"Um, just call me Haruhi. Yea, do you happen to know which way is to the kitchen? I could go get the map I have if you don't. I'm still pretty new to this place."

Yori laughed inwardly at the idea of having to call her by first name. _She's a commoner,_ he realized. No wonder she'd picked out something so plain from such an extraordinary closet. He'd seen all the silk and lace in the closet when he'd gotten a fresh shirt and it humored him that she had ignored every bit of it.

Nodding, he responded. "I'll lead the way then."

Yori steered her down a few short hallways and to an elevator and they quickly managed to get to the hallway leading to the two kitchens. It would have been quicker but at some point, Yori had seen the double-trouble twins (*authors note: . sorry, I had to!*) and had to change courses to another hallway that was only a bit longer of a route.

He knew the boys would already be down to one of the kitchens and he decided that he would take advantage of his job description to avoid them.

Once they reached the two doors, he knew she would want to go into the self-service side and get breakfast for herself – she just seemed that kind of girl who didn't like being fussed on constantly. So he had a plan.

"Ms. Fuji- I mean, Haruhi-" his throat itched on the informality and he tried his best to hide the discomfort "-do you mind if I check the room first for anything suspicious? I know there is a set of doors leading outside and though this is a very secure place, I would rather be assured nothing could possibly harm you. I'll be in and out in a flash." He motioned for her to sit on a bench he had momentarily noticed sitting by a statue of some sort.

"Um, sure. If it makes you uncomfortable to call me by my first name, then just call whatever you like. It's just I don't really see status as anything meaningful. But I understand if it's awkward for you." She looked right up into his eyes and smiled.

Not only did she come across as the most observant and sweet person he'd ever met, she was also the unluckiest to have been put in the situation she was in.

Those buys couldn't know what who were hurting, right? She was such an angelic person; it wouldn't make sense to want to hurt her.

He took two steps into to the door and slid in without letting her look inside. He saw the two twins look up at him and then look at the empty space where Haruhi normally stood.

"Where's Haruhi?" they said together in annoyance.

"Elsewhere." Without much more than a glance out the windows for anything that would be an obvious danger, he slid back out.

He heard a curse or two behind him and the sliding of chairs on expensive marble. The twins both rose up to follow him.

With quick thinking, Yori locked the door from the outside while Haruhi's back was turned and led her into the other kitchen.

"You should have the cook make some breakfast for you. I hear she makes a really great omelet."

She nodded and followed silently, not asking what happened in the other room. She ignored the obvious bangs from that kitchen door and laughed inwardly at Yori's blatant attempt to avoid Hikaru and Kaoru. _They deserve a chance to know what it feels like to be the victim of the game for once._

After being served some sort of fancy egg thing that was nothing like the omelets she'd made before, they left and Haruhi only glimpsed the boys sitting on a bench before she was pushed through a door that appeared from nowhere.

Yori had been walking in front of her and with the help of memorizing the entire layout of the mansion, he knew of a fast route to the main hallway leading to a different living room.

"Is there anything you would like to do?" He wondered what kinds of things she enjoyed. She didn't seem the video game type, or the tv-watching type, but he would take her there anyways. _Never judge a book by its cover, right?_

Haruhi walked across the plush carpet and though she didn't have to think of the answer much, she knew she really was becoming something of a shut-up in their room. "I wanted to do some studying back in our room."

Yori thought to himself, _or maybe sometimes things are so predictable that it surprises you._ He smiled and changed route to 'their' room.

Haruhi's mind pondered about books she had wanted to take out from the library at school and planned to call a classmate about bringing the books to her. _But... I don't want to trouble them. Maybe there are some good books lying around the mansion. Though, the twins don't seem much like readers. _Haruhi giggled quietly at the thought of asking Kyoya to get her some books that he mostly likely didn't own. He seemed like the type who wouldn't invest in owning any books other than those required, it would be aq waste of his money otherwise.

On the tour she had gotten only a few days ago, they had passed a library behind closed doors. It might have had a couple of good books but she highly doubted that it was in any way for use by people outside of the family.

_I'm only a guest._ Haruhi felt the sadness come back but she brushed it off quickly.

Yori and Haruhi spoke on the way back, mostly about Haruhi's studies and if she had been told by Yuzuha that a tutor would be coming in with all the work she's missing.

Haruhi felt so gratified to Mrs. Hitachiin that she was in high spirits and even cracked some bright smiles and a giggle or two. The sadness was gone and Haruhi was so grateful she felt bad for hoping for anything more.

Yori spoke of his previous jobs and Haruhi thought him to be unlike any bodyguard she'd come to know from being around all the rich people in her life. He was kind and acted less like a robot with no mercy and more like a real human that tries his best to help people.

He was a good guy and she felt contented that if she had to have her life in a person's hands, she was very glad it was his.

Just as they rounded the corner, running footsteps came from a corridor close-by and Yori and Haruhi immediately knew from the swift, synchronized steps that it could only be the two brothers. Yori gently pushed Haruhi inside of her room and closed the door with him outside of it.

Haruhi enjoyed her peace. She pulled a novel about beginner's law theory and sat down to do some reading.

Yori stood with his arms crossed and a blank face. The boys ran up and looked at him with glaring eyes.

"Let us in." They said, perfectly harmonized as usual.

"I'm sorry, but I believe I told you that I cannot authorize your entry. You're not on the list of allowed people." Yori remembered that Kyoya had told him specifically that he was allowed to do what he wanted to with the twins and never to let them take advantage of his somewhat low status. He was allowed free reign and it was now understood why he had been given such a special circumstance.

Hikaru finally boiled over and raised his fist to hit this annoying man who stood in the way of what he wanted. Kaoru put his own hand on top of his brothers and dragged him by the ear into their room and mention something along the lines of: "it's not worth it."

Yori was satisfied and took a more comfortable position, hands in pockets and mind humming quietly to itself.

* * *

**Sorry is it was an epic fail :( I hope it'll be okay in the next chapter. I'm a loner at school and I spend a lot of time thinking about it and then I get sidetracked... Sowwy :(**

**Like I said, I'll try and update soon.**

**Cookies to all reviews! All comments, messages to say hi, and constructive criticism is really nice. Kittos! (- that's thank you in Finnish)**


	11. F&R Chapter 11: The Twins Drift

**'Tis finished!!! my deepest apologies for the long wait. I wanted it to be perfect and then I had started it and then I didn't have the file for a week and then I finally got it and then I was sidetracked and uninspired and then and then and then I FINISHED! XD**

**I really am such a dunce T.T this isn't perfect either, but hey, I tried...**

**Moving along, in case you didn't know, I DON'T OWN OHSHS!! DON'T POKE ME WITH GLINTING PITCH FORKS! *takes cover***

**I'll try and get the next one up soon, but no promises... I'll end up destroying all of your hopes ToT the sad truth of life.**

**Now to end my ranting, here 'tis my chappie 11!  
**

* * *

That night, Hikaru stayed up later than he normally did. He might have known, deep down, that his brother was right to be calm, but that didn't mean that the bodyguard wasn't annoying the crap out of him. _What makes him think he's allowed to talk to _me_ like that? He should be listening to everything I say, like the rest of them! What a prick!_

He fumed in the chair he sat in. Kaoru had gone to sleep an hour ago and Hikaru just couldn't bear to sit still. He paced the room, wanting to go out but feared feeling the need to go after the man he knew would be out there.

Hikaru wasn't used to fuming alone; he needed someone to help get his mind off things. It had to be someone who wouldn't stop these thoughts he wanted to feel and release.

His little cell phone sat in drawer with numerous other expensive devices and he grabbed it clumsily and flipped it open.

He had a new text message from a guy who he had exchanged numbers with in the class B. They had met during lunch while Kaoru had been talking to a teacher and Hikaru had felt too bothered to go along.

It was the first time he'd ever exchanged numbers with anyone outside of the host club. The guy had been friendly and was pretty popular with everyone else, but nothing out of the ordinary really. However, Hikaru had noted something quite off about the sudden interaction, but had ignored and forgotten that at this point.

He glanced at the text message. "_Hey Hikaru, it's Rio. Me and some friends are meeting up next Friday. Wanna join? I'll pick you up at 8 if you want."_

_I wonder… why so late in the evening? Hm. It's already Thursday… Maybe I'll go. I need out of this place, away from __**her**__ before I end up taking a beating to her bodyguard._

Hikaru debated inwardly whether he should bring his brother along. _Nobody will be able to tell us apart if he comes. Some time away from him couldn't hurt, right?_

Hikaru smiled at the plan. He'd tell his twin that he just wanted out of the house for a few hours and if Kaoru came along, he'd just keep his mind on negative things.

With a satisfied smile, Hikaru went to sleep.

~~~La, la, la, la, la, la, the next day, la, la, la, la, la, la, la~~

The brothers woke late and then proceeded to stay in their room the entire day, mostly by Hikaru's persistent request. They ate breakfast, lunch, dinner, and snacks in their room and even had their video games brought up to keep them occupied. At some point they got onto separate computers to battle together on online websites. It was a slow day.

Kaoru had asked once or twice about going out to walk around a bit but from the annoyed expression on Hikaru's face, he learned not to mention anything about what went on outside of their room. He understood that last night wouldn't be forgotten anytime soon, and even if he had to give in his brother's selfish requests, they were still brothers - always in it together.

It was after dinner that Hikaru finally started to get itchy about leaving.

Only a few hours prior, he had texted Rio and told him he'd be cool with being picked up and Rio had been ecstatic about Hikaru joining in on the fun.

Though Hikaru had never really gotten to know Rio well, he didn't think much about having any precaution whatsoever.

Hikaru may have been top-notch brilliant in the high lifestyle, but his street-smarts and gut feelings about people he personally met were a bit dull. This was his downfall.

By 7:30 pm, Hikaru was getting his hair re-gelled and trying to decide the best way to approach his brother.

"Hey, Kaoru, I have some plans tonight so I'm leaving soon." He was studied briefly by his twin and then the shadow of hurt on Kaoru's face dissolved.

_He needs a chance to be out in world, I guess. We can't have more days like today…I trust him. I have to, right? _ Kaoru hid his uneasiness at separation and smiled at the thought of Hikaru trying to keep his temper in check with the other boys. He also wondered what they would be doing out on a Friday night.

"Don't stay out too late. And send me a text when you know when you'll be coming home. I'll pick you up."

As if on cue, the telecom buzzed. "Hikaru-sama, a car is here for you."

"Don't worry about it; I can take care of it myself." Hikaru wanted to leave but Kaoru still needed to say something important.

"Hikaru, don't do anything you'll regret. Please." Kaoru was much more worried than he wanted to appear but come on; it was their first time being apart in such a way.

Hiakru nodded and closed the door behind him.

_If I turn into an uncle tonight, I'll kill him._ Kaoru began to laugh at the notion and got up to go over to Haruhi's room.

Yori could tell this was the more composed twin and let him in happily, knowing that the shut-in Haruhi could take a break from her studies.

They played a video game together thanks to Kaoru's persuasive argument that it was good for the mind and for hand-eye coordination and not completely pointless.

Haruhi laughed, twice, and Kaoru felt much better, almost able to forget his brother's absence. He had explained it to Haruhi and she had pretended, badly, not to listen.

At one point, Kaoru got the best idea to get some exercise in for the day.

Running abruptly away from Haruhi on the couch he made his way to her room.

Yori had followed them silently and had even stifled a few chuckles at Haruhi's poor gaming. He stayed downstairs with Haruhi and Kaoru slipped his way into Haruhi's room, realizing for the first time that Yori slept inside with her.

_Woah, isn't that sort of…wrong? How could they have allowed our pure Haruhi to be in a room with a grown man, nonetheless her bodyguard! I don't care how thick-headed she is, this is taking it too far!_ Kaoru's anger soared momentarily and as a knee-jerk reaction spoke out to Hikaru, "can you believe-" but stopped abruptly and sighed, realizing his brother's absence once more.

Shaking his head as if to clear it, he grinned as he remembered why he was here in the first place.

Going into the closet, his masterfully trained fashion-eye glanced over everything, recognizing every piece, some part of his mother's collection and others as well-known high-class brands.

"She probably was more unhappy than excited to get all of this," Kaoru wondered out loud.

Grabbing what he knew would suit Haruhi well, he sprinted to his own room, grabbed a digital camera, and sprinted all the way to the elevator and then to the living room, making sure to hide himself before Haruhi noticed his reappearance.

Yori glanced suspiciously at his shadow and Kaoru put a finger up to his lips and nudged the clothing and camera in his arms. Yori grinned and tried not to laugh.

Kaoru ran out from behind the couch he had crawled towards and grabbed Haruhi's arm, wrestling her into his arms, princess-style.

Though shocked momentarily and unable to put up a fight, Haruhi struggled in confusion and Kaoru felt for the first time just how weak she was. She was a very petite girl naturally but because of recent events, had lost even more weight. She a feather in his arms and he could feel her bones against his arms and chest.

She wasn't a skeleton sort of thin but still without much more than skin and weak muscle along her legs and arms.

It took him by surprise but not enough to side-track him from the plan.

He easily carried her to one of the maids' quarters and strictly ordered them to force the first set of clothes on her, but to do it without harm.

Each maid got an evil glint in their eyes and two of the quickly jumped forward, happy to help. After working in the Hitachiin mansion for an entire year, they had both gotten their share of the twin torture and were sick enough of teenage boys.

Now for the first time, they had the chance to dress a lady. The deprivation from a missing mistress had driven them to a horrible depth of madness. "Yes, Hitachiin-sama."

Dragging poor Haruhi into a nearby guest room, Kaoru heard yelps from Haruhi and protestations that made him laugh out loud.

"W-what are you doing? Wah, your hands are cold. D-don't touch me there!" Airy giggles poured from under the door. "N-no, stop, that tickles. Waaah! Don't take that off! That's my undershirt!!"

The maid's clear voice came next. "But Haruhi-sama, you need a bra for this one. Come, give me that!" "But it's…it's…Eh?? Where's the rest of it?!"

Kaoru couldn't stop laughing and he bent over and fell to the floor in anguish. He had started recording a video on the camera and had every word on tape.

A few more minutes passed, and the quieter moments came when he heard the snip-snip of scissors. She really had been in desperate need of a haircut other than the one she had given herself. More and more each day, she had reverted back to what the host club had found her looking like on that fateful day Haruhi walked into music room #3 a year ago, looking for a peaceful place to study.

When she walked out of the room with a glaring look to Kaoru, he gasped.

She may have shrunken from the stress recently, but Haruhi had grown in a different way. She was as beautiful as ever and the clothes and hair and makeup all just added to what she so naturally had come to have.

With her hair in its short length, as usual, it was accented with a bow of white and a pure white dress that flowed above her knees and had cap sleeves that were cute atop her slender arms. A wide silk ribbon of powder blue went around her ribs.

"Say cheese." Kaoru quickly snapped a few shots before Haruhi could react. He continued to take pictures until she noticed the pile of other clothes that lay at Kaoru's feet. She turned on her heel and ran.

_Good thing I kicked off the high-heels before the maid opened the door, _Haruhi thought.

A half hour passed as Kaoru raced after Haruhi and her stubborn attitude against being treated like a princess. She was the content peasant who every right to be princess but rejected it completely.

In the end, Haruhi's ability to hide her small self was what kept her in the lead but once she was found and had to run, Kaoru tackled her and they lay on the floor laughing their brains out, Haruhi forgetting herself completely.

In the nick of time, Yori snuck up and snapped a photo of the two sprawled out on the soft carpeting.

Already past 10 o'clock, Kaoru surrendered his mission for the night and settled with the pictures he had. He called a truce.

His curiosity and worry about Hikaru still poked him in the side but he fought it back until Haruhi, observant as ever, blatantly said "You're worrying about Hikaru aren't you?" as they grabbed some night-time snacks in the kitchen.

"Um, yea." Kaoru knew Haruhi wouldn't bug him about it but he didn't want to make too big a deal out of it.

"He's an idiot, so I understand your worry. Just don't let him know you're too worried or else he'll distance himself from you. He's just that kind of person." Haruhi's face didn't show any malice or sarcasm. She was only thoughtful and considerate.

"Yea, you're right. The first time is the hardest, right?"

"It's never really just the first time, Kaoru." She looked up at him without hesitation and he felt his heart skip a beat. He smiled and nodded.

"Good point." She quirked a brow at his sudden humor and they continued on their way, speaking in detail about the way they would be receiving their schooling from now on.

It was decided that a tutor would come in for the three for a bit but then if the boys wanted to go back to school, they would be free to go.

They were only required to stay home now to keep Haruhi some company and since they already had their early exams just before recent events it hadn't been a big deal. Haruhi protested her need for company in the first place but Kaoru had seen today that though she thought she could keep herself together on her own, there was a limit to memorizing facts all day long.

Haruhi retired into her room with a goodnight smile and Yori took to his position outside her door for a few more hours.

Kaoru went into his room and waited up for Hikaru with some glancing through the season's newest designs and some emails with his thoughts to his mother.

Yori had given him the camera back and since it was already 11, Kaoru finally decided to upload them onto his computer and save it multiple times in hidden spots and files on his computer so it wouldn't be found easily. His ammo for blackmail and a few laughs was now loaded and dangerous. He burst out in soft laughter at the thought and looked at the images as they came onto his screen.

He watched the video recording and if that could only tickle his sides, the bewildered look of Haruhi when he took the first picture was what set him off laughing again.

All of the shots were great but then he noticed the few Yori had taken. There were four from the chase the two had had and then the last picture caught him by surprise.

He and Haruhi lay on the floor laughing like drunkards and her white dress and his dark clothes really made them look very beautifully matched. It was good enough to be a professional photo and he even lost against the urge to print out a copy. They looked like lovers but Kaoru suppressed the idea.

The shiny and expensive photo printer quietly slid the picture out and he held it in his hands to feel it's warmth before placing it on his bedside table with a designer frame.

He saved the files expertly and switched the computer off. It was almost midnight and there was still no word from Hikaru.

Kaoru held his cell-phone in his hand and willed it to ring. It didn't.

Ready for bed, Kaoru left the soft light of the lamp next to him on and looked at the picture again.

"You really missed out tonight, bro."

Late into the darkness, it reached around 3 am when Kaoru stirred at the unsteady footsteps in his room and the click of the bathroom door.

A horrible stench reached Kaoru and he turned on his side, thinking it was a very vivid dream. It was only the next morning with studying Hikaru's greenish-pale face that he knew what the smell had been.

Hikaru slept until way past noon and only woke up to complain of headaches and to scream demands for headache medicine.

Kaoru's eyes met with Hikaru's red-rimmed ones only after Hikaru had noticed the only photo on display in their room.

"Glad you had fun without me," the raspy voice murmured and Kaoru looked away in desperation for understanding his brother's mind.

_What made you fall so far, Hikaru? How could you drink something as vile and as intoxicating as __**beer**__?__Didn't we agree it just wasn't our style?_

Kaoru left the room and went to hang out in the arcade room. Haruhi absolutely, positively, could not find out the idiocy his brother had sunken to. If keeping it away from her meant keeping himself away from her, he was willing to do it just for his brother's sake.

* * *

**O_O Hikaru - a drunken teenage boy? NOOO!! The world is ending! Oh wait, I wrote that *smacks self***

**"Get ahold of yourself woman!" says her inner voice and so she cracks her neck painfully and smoothes out her features.**

**I'm chill. I will try and update soon ladies and gentlemen but reviews are what keep my PASSION going, so it would helps if I got some kind of response. Even a "yo, c00l chap" is enough to spark somethin' ^.^ Yes, I AM CRAZY.  
**


	12. F&R Chapter 12: Blind Anger

**In thankfullness for all of your support and awesomeness with holding up to all of my filler chapters, I have spent a happy day writing to no end and have finished this as quickly as possible for my readers. Thank you T.T My stacked homework lays forgotten in my backpack.  
**

**I hope this makes up (almost) for all of the unnecessary fluff I have been writing. It's really my entire reason for writing the story and I hope I did okay.**

**Let me know what you think ^_^**

**Disclaimer: Sadly, I do not own OHSHC but I have written this story. I also give Icetiger 13 her claim at being my inspiration for writing this story. Thank yous ^_^ Yori and Rio are mine.  
**

* * *

"How was your night?" Kaoru asked, his worry hidden well beneath his brotherly curiosity.

The short-tempered Hikaru sighed, as if he was just asked "where are we going?" for the fiftieth time in the last 10 minutes.

"Fine." He kept his eyes on the screen, wildly tapping buttons on the controller.

"What did you do?"

"Nothin'." Hikaru's voice was curt, warning Kaoru not to go on in the direction he was going.

Kaoru ignored the warning.

"Oh really now? You sure stayed out pretty late for someone who was doing nothing…." Kaoru placed the controller on the floor without finishing the level and stretched his sore fingers.

"We weren't doing anything wrong!! We were acting like normal guys who go out to have a good time every now and then!! Jeez, you sound like a… jealous girlfriend!! Mind your own damned business." Hikaru paused the game angrily and threw the controller at his brother's head, an audible whap (**Author's note: I stink with noise sounds _ let me know what it should really be… thanks much  **) resonating from Kaoru's skull.

Spending the day with Hikaru was like spending the day with a hibernating bear. A wrong move on Kaoru's part and SNAP, Hikaru would bare his sparkly whites and his poor brother would only grow more miserable and weary at Hikaru's attitude and mood as of late.

The grizzly bear was grouchy all of that day and left at 6 to be with his 'new friends'. It hurt Kaoru more than anything to hear the slam of the door as Hikaru heard the buzz of the telecom, shooting out of his seat with a scrunched up brow.

Not receiving a goodbye, Kaoru's heart felt like it was about to crack in two. Anyone observing from afar would tell him to talk to his brother about it, but they didn't understand this; they couldn't.

Or then again, it could have just been Kaoru's cowardice at initiating a real fight…

~~~~Lalalalalalalalalalalalachangingsubjectslalalalalalalala~~~~

Kaoru hadn't seen Haruhi since the fun they'd had the previous night and he was avoiding her tactfully.

He'd listen to any signs of life in the neighboring room and when he heard her stretching her limbs from sitting or sigh from exhaustion, he would slip out to have food or bother a maid. The latter was less joyful and he stopped trying after the first few failed attempts.

Food was tasteless and laughter seemed hollow and sarcastic. Television distracted him for a half hour but then a show about two brothers that lived together and got into various sets of trouble put such a dent in Kaoru's heart that he could only turn the television off, throw the remote control at something expensive and begin pacing down unused hallways that he couldn't possibly meet Haruhi in.

At first, one might question what kind of stupid idiot he was for avoiding the one thing that may cheer him up, but those people didn't see what it would do for her to even see a glimpse of Kaoru's troubled features.

Knowing Haruhi, she would read him without a second thought. He couldn't have that happen; Hikaru's dignity lay in his hands, after all.

Slipping his shiny cell-phone out of his pocket, he checked the time – 8 pm.

No messages, no phone calls, no nothing. This only brought Kaoru down even more.

By the time Kaoru finished his thought-walking, it was already Sunday morning (1 am). One does their best thinking while walking and Kaoru had walked through the entire mansion (no matter what hallways since Haruhi was probably already fast asleep). His legs were sore but the pain felt good. It kept him awake.

_I better head back. He might be home…_

Yori held a questioning look at Kaoru's slouched figure and took his face of misery as an effect of his brother's being from home.

"Do you have trust in your brother?" Yori inquired before Kaoru could touch the doorknob.

"Yes of course... why wouldn't I?" Kaoru felt hurt that an outsider like Yori had the nerve to inquire on such a personal subject.

"Not everyone can just figure out their mistakes all on their own, especially while they're making them."

Kaoru blinked twice and murmured a goodnight, turning his face away.

~~~~Lalalalalai'mtonedeaflalalalalaharuhilalalala~~~~

_What is today? Sunday? Or Saturday?_

Haruhi finalized her thoughts that it must be Sunday already, and the last time she'd seen the twins was long ago. It was late evening and she had just finished re-reading all of her notes for every subject and half of her textbooks.

There was nothing left to study.

Her stomach churned slightly, begging for nourishment.

The last time she'd eaten must have been sometime around noon; Yori had forced a lunch into her and she'd almost been sick afterwards.

_Jeez, what is this? I get plenty of sleep and I don't do much to tire me out and I'm still miserable. How great._

Hikaru's face crossed her mind from the last time she'd seen it, filled with blind fury and childish instinct.

Haruhi opened her eyes, not realized they had closed.

_Why am I always thinking about that guy?_

He had drifted through her mind several times a day and she didn't even try to resist.

_Don't tell me you're getting lonely, Haruhi. Get a hold of yourself._

Smacking her lifeless face for some feeling, Haruhi clicked the bathroom light off and went out to speak with Yori.

He stood as he always did, right outside of her door.

"Look who it is. How are you feeling Haruhi?"

"Pretty okay."

"Let's get you some food. I have something I wanted to tell you and I'm leaving for a meeting soon."

"Uh, okay." Haruhi felt uneasy and followed obediently to the kitchen, letting the chef on duty make her some hot oatmeal.

"You haven't been talking to the twins lately." It wasn't a question. Haruhi took a bite of the warming food and let Yori go on.

He continued. "One of those brothers has been going out every night with some friends from school. He leaves in the evening and comes back late. The other is depressed and goes out to walk around the house for hours on end. It's quite disgruntling to watch."

Haruhi nearly choked on her spoon. "H-hikaru has been going out with friends? Without Kaoru?" This was barely believable to her.

"Seems so. He comes back smelling like a bar. I never imagined someone from such a rich background would get himself involved in that kind of thing but it seems I've been proved wrong." Yori stood in with his straight posture, peering down at the heartsick girl.

"His brother won't confront him about it, either."

"Idiots."

"He left again a half hour ago. Since I have to go, I'll be leaving you in the other brother's care. It should be pretty quiet tonight and I suggest you stay inside his or your rooms, together. I'll be back in an hour or so and I need you to be safe."

They didn't continue the subject and Haruhi only ate half of the fancy-looking gunk, her mind stuck on Hikaru.

_He's such an idiot!! He'll either end up getting someone pregnant or turn into a teenage alcoholic before he realizes the fact of the matter. If Kaoru isn't going to talk to him, I will. What if he's hurt? What if someone recognizes him and makes a scandal? What if he gets into a bar fight? What if he walks out into the street and gets hit by a car?_

_I can't help it, I need to bring him back, not matter what. I miss him, I miss him so much. _Her eyes stung and lump formed in her throat; all the while her heart was tight with yearning for Hikaru.

She hadn't even noticed the maid run up to them and tell Yori that he had to leave immediately and apologized to Haruhi for the inconvenience.

Yori was assured that she would make it back her room easily and Haruhi barely noticed him say "Go straight to the boy's room. Tell him I'm gone for a bit and that he should protect you with his life."

Haruhi barely felt she was worth that much to Kaoru.

Yori disappeared with the maid and Haruhi stood alone.

_Kaoru doesn't need to watch me…_She sighed._ I miss Hikaru. I just need to see him. I need…to help._ Haruhi ran down an opposite hallway she remembered led out the door.

Running with only a light sweater on, she made it out the door and down the driveway before a guard caught her, asking her what she was doing.

"Let me go, please! I-I'm a maid at the mansion and they gave me the night off. M-my brother is in the hospital and I have someone picking me up at-at the end of the street." Haruhi stuttered over the words but her pouring tears helped hide her lack of lying ability.

"Well, um, you see, it's not safe to go out and right now there is a high security lockdown to be put up in 10 minutes. I'm going to have to ask you to-"

Haruhi felt desperate and the sun was beginning to set already.

"Please, I beg you. I _need_ to go. H-he might be dead already." A new wave of tears poured down her face and the chill of fall rushed at her bare neck.

"Uh… well, fine. I'm going to let you go, but remember, you're not coming back in."

Haruhi nodded and the man pressed a radio receiver on his belt. "M6205 here, open the gate, we have a maid leaving the premises and has been checked out. Start the lockdown once the gate has been re-shut, over."

A crackling voice on the other end called out "Roger, opening gate."

The dark, looming gates down the driveway slowly opened and Haruhi yelled her thanks over he shoulder and sprinted down the driveway.

She didn't know the way into the bar-district and for now only ran down the direction she remembered coming from.

This sudden desperation was alien to her and controlled her body and mind thoroughly.

Time passed in a blur. The sun had set and after running for what felt like hours, Haruhi was numb from the cold. Her knees bled from the times she'd tripped in her clumsiness and her hands were unsightly with gashes and bruises covering them.

Her legs dragged and she was approaching a large town with bright lights and a darker red-light district adjoining with the other more civilized area, creating an area of bars and hangouts in between.

_Where are you Hikaru? I'm coming, just wait a bit longer. Please, just a bit longer and I'll find you._

Haruhi ran into many bars, all of which she was thrown out of as soon as she'd come. With such obviously young features, no bartender would want to be caught with her in their bar.

However, she never left until she'd had gotten a glimpse of everyone sitting inside, recognizing a few of his father's clients and friends from time to time.

She went into the second to last bar on the fourth street she'd been on and could hear a sudden downpour of rain slosh down as she walked inside.

The man behind the counter looked up. It was one of her dad's best friends from a place he often worked at and the man's eyes shined recognition at the sight of Haruhi.

_He's the one who left a dozen roses at the funeral…_Haruhi's eyes poured out more tears in memory of her father and she glanced around the room briefly, seeing no flash of reddish-orange hair with beautiful golden eyes.

She ran out the door and into the cold rain, not hearing the confused voice calling of her name.

_Why do I care so much? Why do I hurt so badly now? Is it because…I-I love him?_ It struck Haruhi so suddenly that the realization caught her off guard.

Her stomach did a back flip and she dashed into an empty alley way, saying goodbye to her oatmeal.

Against the rain on her face, hot tears fought their way down her face in their own heated stream.

She turned her face to the sky and let the rain wash her face and clear her mind of the nausea.

Her legs were like pieces of lead but she trudged along to the next place to search.

Sirens wailed in the background of her mind but Haruhi's mind was on the face of a beautiful boy who she longed for.

A glaring yellow light caught her off guard as she turned the corner. It read "Welcome to The Bar" and seemed much more up-done than the rest she'd visited, but sleazy all the same.

The door screeched when she opened it and its almost-fancy exterior was nothing more than cheap paint. The hunk of hallow wood hung open behind her and she left it like that, not caring enough to close it.

She lumbered in and her sneakers squeaked against the dirty, scratched floor.

The outside of the place may have looked nicer, but the inside was a nothing more than a loud, filthy mess.

There lay peanut shells all over the floor and women in slinky dresses hung all over the men, no matter what age or appearance.

A head of hair the most beautiful color immediately struck a cord in Haruhi's mind and her heart tightened, ready to burst, as she recognized the relaxed form of Hikaru sitting at the bar with women dripping all over his sides. There were three of them, one was giggling and nibbling on his ear, the other leaned on his lap, talking. The third had her arms wrapped around his neck from behind and rested her head next to his.

Haruhi walked on, forgetting the women as soon as she'd seen them, focusing only on the boy she'd come for.

"H-hikaru…?" Haruhi's voice was small and child-like. The ugly music playing over a scratchy stereo system was loud and overtook the volume of her voice but she knew he had heard her.

Two eyes turned swiftly towards her, caught off guard. They were filled with shock and other things that soon turned to drunken anger.

His eyes became unfocused and as he stood up, the women had to help him stand straight.

"What the hell do you think you're doing here?!" He looked her up and down in disgust. He felt ashamed not for himself but for her demeanor, though radiant and lovely, she reminded him of nothing more than a scathed wet cat.

He didn't give her a chance to answer, though she had nothing to say. "He put you up to this, didn't he?! I don't want your help. I have better friends than you clingy little morons." He hiccupped and when one the women, who wore a tiny little red dress, giggled, he turned and shot a glare at her.

The blood drained from Haruhi's face and her every pore stung. "Please, just come home with me. W-we can call someone to pick us up or take a taxi. It's raining but I'm sure it'll sto-" Haruhi was whispering and Hikaru's voice overtook hers without hesitation.

"Get the hell away from me! You're just a poor little piece of nothing who doesn't have anywhere to go. People may think you're independent, but you even can't live if it weren't for us! You're the most pathetic person I've ever met!"

"Please, j-just come back." Haruhi's strength was gone for the most part and she just wanted to hold onto Hikaru never let go. She knew he was right but it didn't matter. Any other day she would fight back, but she just didn't have it in her. He was right; she was nothing more than a pathetic piece of nothing,

She reached for him and he raised his arm. It swung out so suddenly and fiercely that she held no resistance.

Without a second glance at her, he ran from the women's grasp and strode heatedly from the building.

Haruhi's whole body felt the strength of his blow and the hit spun her and caused her to fall miserably backwards.

The back of her head cracked into the corner of a heavy table corner, made of frigid stone. It was an ugly sound when it hit and the table broke to her small weight with its crappy plastic support and fell to the ground, the large collection of glasses gathered there falling among the broken shambles of Haruhi's heart.

* * *

**This is what I've been yearning for - a decent cliffhanger XD sort of.**

**I nearly cried while writing this ToT I was listening to Rain by Breaking Benjamin and it is one of the nicest songs I know. Please, let me know if it was horrible or if it was completely decent for something that was written in the heat of the moment. Sorry for any mistakes, my editing is never perfect _**

**Thank you for coming so far with me :) I never thought I would get this far. It's all thanks to you guys.  
**


	13. F&R Chapter 13: Lost

**I MUST be crazy... I've written yet another chapter. I just can't seem to help it with my renewed passion and excitement for what happens next... I need more sleep. I'm turning into a zombie O_o or a raccoon.  
**

**BTW: I DO NOT OWN OHSHC but I do happen to own this story line... don't hate me.**

**Here we go... Enjoy :)**

* * *

Heavy, graceless steps plodded on carpet and a figure made its way down the ornate hallway.

The sight of his neighboring door struck a chord in his brain and he felt disappointed that the man he hated so vehemently was not standing watch outside of it; he had wanted to throw a punch or two while no one was stopping him.

It was past 3 in the morning and the boy had gotten a ride home when he'd called with a payphone. Nobody had wondered or asked where he'd been. _In the end, nobody cares. Only Kaoru…no, he doesn't understand. I'm alone. That stupid Haruhi-_

A stab of pain overcame Hikaru's head; he felt like he'd forgotten something important but what it was, he did not know. His head began to pound, as if begging him to remember.

He hastily fumbled with the doorknob and gave the door a lazy push and it thumped loudly against the wall. He reached for it again tiredly and thrust it shut.

He felt more disoriented than ever before and swayed and fell at the foot of the large bed. There was only a tiny light stuck in the outlet and it methodically switched from a soft orange to a powder blue.

Kaoru sat up in panic and a veil of relief shadowed his features at the sight of his twin having returned home.

"Welcome back." Kaoru's voice was sleepy and barely above a whisper.

Hikaru looked up at his faithful brother and felt ashamed. His other half sat at home, waiting for him while he got drunk and did nothing but mope about problems that he had only caused himself.

He attempted to move his stiff jaw muscles to apologize for everything but a sudden bang caught him off guard.

"Please tell me she's here." Yori had been running, they could tell from his aggravated breathing.

"Who?" Kaoru said. His voice was fully awake but his mind had yet to catch up.

Yori breathed out, as if the answer were obvious. "_Haruhi._ Where is she? I told her to come straight to you room. I left her at the elevator and had to rush off for a meeting with my boss. I told her strictly to come to your room and tell you to watch over her and protect her. She didn't come? I made it very clear that it was less of a request and more of an order… she didn't come in here?" His eyebrows furrowed and he ran a hand through his hair, frustration dripping in his every pore.

"What are you talking about? I haven't seen her in like two days… Is-is she missing?" Kaoru was thoroughly confused and a chill crept along his spine.

Hikaru was shocked into sobriety and his eyes were frozen on Yori's face.

"This is bad." Yori sighed and took a few steps toward the boys.

"I explained to her about what _he's_-" he nudged in Hikaru's direction "-been up to and she seemed worried. I told her repeatedly that she was to come to your room and she was noticeably upset already. I was out later than expected, as you can guess, and got back to a message from the surveillance building saying that a girl who left after I did had a distraught face and identified herself as a maid and pleaded to get the gates opened… it looked like Haruhi but I wasn't sure…" He trailed off and looked back and forth at the two identical faces.

"She wasn't wearing much more than a light sweater and thin jeans. Her neck is bare with a killer out to get her." He seemed to be talking to himself at this point. Yori turned to leave but Hikaru shot up off the floor and took a step forward and put a hand on Yori's shoulder to stay and explain further.

"She's gone?!" Hikaru's heart tightened and he felt like collapsing right back onto the floor. A memory rushed into his aching head and he gasped, horrified.

"She was going after you." Yori said it as an accusation.

He put his hand over his mouth and his golden eyes stung, the memory playing itself in his mind. "I think I did something horrible, Yori…

"I-I was drunk and alone. The others left early because it's a school night for them… she-she came in soaking wet and shivering, and I was angry that she had followed me. I thought she was nagging and she asked me to come back." His voiced cracked on the last word. "She reached out for me and I-I…" Hikaru sobbed and Kaoru got up and held his brother.

"You what?" Yori's eyes were wide.

Hikaru didn't look up. "I might have pushed her. I ran out but there may have been a loud crash behind me. I'm not sure." He mumbled this from Kaoru's shoulder and Yori was anxious about finding her before anything worse happened.

He reached into his pocket and flipped it open, rapidly pressing buttons and putting it to his ear.

Kaoru and Hikaru listened as he called the Otori building for records of any recent patients in any hospitals in the last couple of hours and then proceeded to call some search crews to go out looking for her. He called his boss and the police to keep a look out for a young girl wandering around alone.

Hikaru was held tightly by Kaoru. Yori told them that he would call if there was any update. They exchanged numbers and Hikaru sat down on the bed, shaking his head in misery.

"Do you think we should call everyone?" Kaoru held the phone in his palm and sat next to his brother.

Hikaru didn't respond; he was wrapped up in every detail he remembered, wishing he could take it back. He wished it so much that it made him sick to think that even while drunk and stupid he could have said something so cruel, and done something so heartless.

His mind whirred over the possibilities. The idea of the killer and those gang members finding Haruhi was what scared him most. Who knew what they might do to an innocent girl who'd been out in the rain all night with a possible injury.

He only allowed the thought that she had only knocked the table over and was carried to the hospital, only needing a few nights rest, slip across his mind. He grasped onto it, wishing it were true, but something inside of him pulled it away.

A new part of his memory came into view and he could feel the force of his hand on Haruhi as her weak body gave in.

New sobs racked him and a string in his heart pulled him towards Haruhi, apprehension forming with her unknown location.

Kaoru's own sadness broke free and tears slipped down his face. He whispered calming phrases of "it'll be alright," and "we're gonna' find her" into Hikaru's ear. He was talking just as much to himself as he was to Hikaru.

They sat in the dark room and Kaoru was jolted by the vibration of his phone.

With clumsy hope, he opened it to find only a text message from his mother.

It read: _I received a call of what happened. I'm deeply disappointed in both of you. The one thing I've relied on you boys for and this is where it leads. I'll be in contact, ~Mom~._

Kaoru wasted to throw the phone at the wall and destroy it but he couldn't. He needed it to receive the call of updates. He grasped it impatiently for a moment and then placed it beside him and hugged Hikaru tighter.

They'd get her back. They had to.

~~~~ToT Haru-chan!~~~~

The morning sun rose and glimmered hopefully on the chilly horizon on just another autumn day.

Ache swelled in every muscle and the head of silky brown hair was hospital clean. A wrap of fresh white gauze went around her head tightly enough to be felt yet gentle as not to cause pain or discomfort.

Where the sorest part was there lay a large swollen lump and it throbbed with her every heart beat.

Her small voice was lost in the empty room and she knew she was in a hospital or clinic of some sort. It wasn't fancy or luxurious in any way and just about had the bare essentials. It was sterile but homey.

She blinked and raised her back from the pillow behind her, wincing at how her movements caused more pain in her head and how every inch of her body seemed to be covered in a giant bruise.

Her back and arms were stiff and weak. How long had she been asleep?

An older man in a long white jacket came in with a caring smile on his lips.

"Good to see you're up, miss. You were in pretty bad shape when the man brought you in. He was upset but left you in my care. He disappeared 10 minutes after handing you over and hasn't contacted me since."

She tilted her head in confusion, silently showing her confusion as to what was going on.

"You haven't quite found your voice yet, I see." He chuckled. "Just sleep some more. You've been out for two days already but you still need to take it easy. Just hit the orange button next to you to call me if you need something. I need to have your information and someone I can contact as soon as possible, but I can wait until you recuperate a bit more. I'm your doctor and you can call me Hiroshi."

She nodded hesitantly, still confused, and sat back again, thinking.

She spoke out before the man could leave through the white door, her voice hoarse and young. "Who am I?"

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**O_O poor girl. She seemed a bit confused.**

**I'm so evil *Mwahahahaha***

**Tell me what you peoples think ^.^ Hate it? Love it? Neutral? Bored? Confused? Grumpy? Unsatisfied? Let me know~  
**

**Soooo... let's hope this writing streak keeps up for a couple more chapters and let's hope I don't kill myself in the process.**

**^.^ Thank you for reading this far and I don't think I couldn't have done it without everyone's support, even if you were silent. Just knowing someone read it is enough :)  
**

***bows in gratitude* I'll try my best to do my best :D  
**


	14. F&R Chapter 14: Missing Akiko

***Bows in deep apology* I'm a meanie-pants.**

**I left you guys on a cliffhanger for... 2 weeks? O_o; I'm really cruel.**

**. thank you if you stuck with me and are willing to read this short update.**

**I wanted to have another chapter up so I write this and am planning (really hoping) that I can write another shortie tonight XD**

**Please don't send a mob with pitchforks! . It's short and took forever but I-I'm just.... an idiot. *sigh***

**Hope the chapter came out alright. Oh, and when it switches to the Twins' point of view, it goes back a day or so... sorry if it's confusing .  
**

* * *

The doctor's eyes widened.

His hand ran through the thinning gray hair atop his head and he looked rather unsure of what should come next. "You don't remember anything?"

The girl nodded, the shock of it setting in as she began to tremble.

"Oh. Well, we can just wait until you remember then. It'll be alright." The man smiled reassuringly. There was a long pause until the doctor began to tentatively speak once more. "Shall we give you a name for the time being, then?"

He contemplated many names and a sudden idea came to him. "How about Akiko?"

She wasn't paying much attention to the doctor's words. The delicate girl's face crumbled in terror at her painfully swooning head.

He smiled at her despite her lack of attention and went on his merry way, leaving the distressed girl alone.

She wept and wept until she could no longer breathe right and her eyes felt as swollen as the back of her skull.

_Is there someone out there looking for me?... Maybe nobody is. That would explain why the man who brought me left without saying much. He probably-_

No. She refused to think so negatively. It didn't matter anyways. She needed her memories back so that she could get back to whatever life she had, good or bad. She shouldn't overstay her welcome here either.

…_Wait, how are all of my expenses being paid? He couldn't be doing this for me on whim, can he? If he is... why? It can't be very good for business and this doesn't seem like the place that can afford to do so either._

She sighed, her eyebrows furrowed. It didn't make sense and her brain was still stuffy.

Laying her head back, she let herself relax and try to get some rest. If only there was something to read to pass the time.

~~~LALALAtheboys(going back a day in time here^_^)LALALALA~~~

Hikaru and Kaoru sat in their room, helpless. It infuriated them that there really wasn't much that they could do except wait for a call. They were used to being in control of the situation and they had struggled at first to hide their impatience.

It had already been a day since she'd disappeared and neither would give into their exhaustion.

Secretly, Kaoru was almost more worried by his brother's agony than about Haruhi. He worried about her incessantly as well but seeing his brother so hurt brought him a deep pain.

Hikaru felt so responsible for everything that he tormented himself over what could be or what might be if it took any longer to find Haruhi.

In the last 24 hours, Hikaru had completely shut down. Not once did he cry, yell out, or speak. He didn't even focus his eyes. He just stared at the floor with his mind idle.

The poor boy sat without moving in a chair by the balcony with an unchanging glaze in his eyes. Kaoru was beginning to stare and wonder whether his brother would blink.

The tension was thick in the room and nobody dared to disturb them. Their mother hadn't contacted them again and the maids could sense the depression lingering outside their door.

Kaoru began to wonder whether he should try to say something of comfort to his twin but couldn't find the words for it. He just sat in the immeasurable passing of time. He had sent messages to the other host club members and had refused their phone calls and sent them the number to Yori's secret-agent-earpiece-phone-thingy. They stopped trying to contact them when Kaoru sent all caps messages about hating the sound of the phone buzzing and seeing Hikaru's face twitch.

Kaoru squeezed the little shiny cell phone and willed it to bring him good news.

It suddenly began to buzz. Kaoru's heart squeezed tight and he flung it mercilessly open and smacked it against his ear.

"H-hello?!"

"It's Yori here." Kaoru's heart skipped a beat and the very still body of Hikaru suddenly appeared next to where Kaoru was leaning.

Kaoru pressed the speakerphone button, taking a long breathe to calm his heart rate.

"Any news?" Kaoru sounded painfully hopeful and he bit back all the questions he wanted to scream about what they might have found.

"We've gotten Ranka's murderer in custody but there's an issue. A cruiser picked him up 20 minutes ago and we just confirmed his identity and got a confession." Yori's voice was unemotional.

Hikaru's eyes became alive. He grabbed the cell phone, screaming "Did you find her?! Is she all right?!"

"Well, you see…that's the problem."

Hikaru's body went cold and he fell back against the bed frame behind him. The phone clattered onto the hardwood floor peaking out from under the soft rug they sat on.

The boy's eyes were open but his face was frozen, thinking he knew what must come next.

Kaoru's trembling hand reached for the phone and held it up between the two of them. His eyelids were squeezed shut, trying to calm him.

"W-what do you mean?"

"That _monster _said that he'd been making plans to break into the mansion with gang members he'd rounded up tonight and killing everyone in his way to getting Haruhi. He'd-he'd wanted to make sure she-" Yori's voice broke on the last word and they could hear him take a deep breath on the other end.

"A-anyways, he said that he hadn't been the one to take her. He was shocked to hear she'd left the mansion. He said the people working for him now wouldn't go out of their way to find her without orders and didn't know what she looked like yet."

A moment passed before the voice from the phone continued. "We don't have any traces to follow at this point. She's…she's just disappeared. Not even Kyouya has any idea."

Hikaru's head tilted down and his usually bright and mocking features were dark and full of his misery and self-hate.

Quiet filled the room and minutes passed by them, unnoticed.

Kaoru's heart was very, very still and when he finally realized the screaming sobs were his own, he bit back on his lips and muffled them just enough to keep sane.

The shiny device was left on the floor and Yori took another deep breath on the other line, saying a few hopeless words before hanging up. "I'll call you again if we find anything."

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**I was absolutely sad when I wrote this... T.T poor Hika-chan and Kao-chan.**

**Please press that shiny green button to let me know what you think. Reviews are what keep me writing XP**

**THANK YOU FOR READING. YOU ALL GET A CUPCAKE FOR WAITING FOR SO LOOOONG ToT**

**Ooooh, and thank you for all the previous reviews :) they make my heart happy.  
**


	15. F&R Chapter 15: A New Kind of Fear

**Okay, yes, I did ignore my homework until now to finish this... . but it was worth it.**

**I felt bad that I made my last chapter so short and OOC (for Kaoru at least) so I re-lit my writing flame and set to work on this chappie.**

**Muahahaha, I make this a pretty tense chapter (later on, at least)... I enjoyed writing it waaay too much.**

**Soo... I hope it turned out okay. I know this fanfic is really long because of all the darned filler chapters I wrote but... it's close to reuniting time. I hope .**

**Oh, and Haru-chan is _bit_ out of character, but she's pretty different just because of all the trauma she's gone through, so understand that anyone would be a lot more weak about certain things because of losing their father, memory, and being away from anyone that could help fill in the gaps.  
**

* * *

The boys passed out sometime after midnight.

Leaning against one another, it felt like they were what they used to be: the Hitachiin twins, who were one and the same. In the stillness, they could pretend nothing had changed.

Their dreams were short flashes of horror and they passed in and out of consciousness, though barely stirring in their sleep.

Dozing straight through the dawn, they woke late in the afternoon with sore backs. The silence drifted on as they both lay down upon the soft bed after drinking the cool water left for them on the nightstand and stared at the ceiling.

At some point, the boys had entwined their limbs with shared body temperatures and synchronized breaths.

It was almost peaceful. Almost.

Night set in once more and they slowly rose from the bed, stomachs growling painfully.

Their appetite was nil but if there was someone they needed to beat for taking away their Haruhi, they would be ready for it. Grabbing some toast, they sat in the dim room, and Kaoru tentatively hugged his brother, telling him that everything would be alright. It _had_ to be alright.

(A/N: Now readers, think back to the time they go to the beach and those guys push Haru-chan in the water and the twins beat them mercilessly… XD sorry for the interruption.)

The next morning came like a ghost and the silence stretched miserably on. It had never been so quiet, and neither felt their usual boredom. The video games lay untouched and their computers were ignored. The two didn't notice anything for they were wrapped up in thoughts of their own.

Midmorning, rain began to pour outside, and when the lightening flickered behind the curtains, Hikaru ventured to speak.

"Don't you just hate how everything reminds you of her?" His voice was rough from being used so little and he tried to wipe the moisture in his eyes before it could fall; he wasn't fast enough. Kaoru didn't have the strength to stop his own.

Kaoru tried to laugh, but it came out humorlessly and more like a cough than anything else. "It's a mystery how such a dense girl could ever have a fear of thunder."

The storm grew outside, crackling and fighting against the world and the rain pelted on the glass doors they had peaked through only days ago.

It felt like forever since she'd gone.

"I'm such an idiot." Hikaru clasped his hands together and squeezed them tight, trying to hold back his self-loathing.

Kaoru stood and walked over to his brother and they hugged once again, never wanting to let go.

Kaoru's heart ached for his brother and for Haruhi. He remembered the way she would make crisp, smart comments and would always have the right thing to say. He thought she was stubborn as a horse and fragile as a porcelain doll; independent of all around her.

He was lucky to have Hikaru, someone to hug and to share the pain with.

She was out there somewhere (for he wouldn't accept death as a possibility) and she was alone.

They sat, clasped to one another for an hour, the storm getting angrier outside. The silence was finally shattered with the buzz of a certain shiny little phone.

~~~~LALALAyouhatemeforswitching,sosorry,butheresotherpeoplesLALA~~~

The prince paced the color, growing more distressed with every thought.

_My poor, precious little Haruhi! She's out there somewhere, just waiting for me to find her but…I don't know where to look! What if she's injured? Or sick? Or kidnapped?_

The Suoh person stopped in his tracks and let his mind theatre set in as he imagined what he would do to the perpetrator. Any onlooker would become very, very disturbed.

Luckily, only the dark-haired and glasses-wearing Kyouya was with him in the room, typing away on his laptop.

It had been a few days and there's was still no trace of Haruhi. He had checked every hospital with her name and description and all of his own hospitals had no record of her.

He wouldn't admit even under torture that he was worried about her, and he labeled it as a worry for someone who owes him money. She had yet to work of the money for that broken vase, right?

The two extremely good looking teenagers were in Kyouya's part of the Ootori home and Tamaki had been sleeping there from the time they heard about Haruhi's disappearance.

The room they sat in now had an L shaped sofa and a wall made up entirely of windows. Two doors led off to where they slept and an upstairs held a few other rooms that were for Kyouya's personal usage.

Kyouya had been thinking about what he might have missed, what he might have forgotten to check, but his usually resourceful brain came up with naught.

Tamaki's stomach growled loudly and a maid appeared with hot water for his favorite commoner noodles. He had a whole stack of them by his leg and nobody mentioned the health risks of doing so.

He slurped as he ate them hungrily, trying to fulfill his depression with food. In the darkest corner of the room there lay a mountain of different wrappers of things he'd already eaten. (Tamaki liked the shiny, cheap papers, and refused to ever throw them away, hoping to one day glue them into his numerous scrapbooks. Kyouya didn't have the patience to care.)

"Not even these commoner noodles cheer me up…" His mood turned sulky. "I want my Haruhi." Tamaki began whining and Kyouya's brain suddenly made a small clicking noise and a little light-bulb seemed to light atop his head.

Completely oblivious to his words' effect on Kyouya, Tamaki continued to shovel the food into his mouth, burning his tongue in the process.

He began to whine louder until Kyouya became so annoyed he took the book next to him, threw it at the hindrance, yelling: "Shut up, you MORON."

Scared by the strange outburst from the shadow king, Tamaki's eyes flooded with childish tears and he began to grow mushrooms onto the colorful wrapper mountain.

Kyouya's fingers were furiously typing away, hoping his sudden thought explosion didn't slip away. He made several phone calls and Tamaki came back to sit with his mouth zipped and eyes glued to Kyouya's sudden energy.

It had been a hopeless couple of days and Tamaki had become very worried about Haruhi. He'd only been told by Kyouya about her disappearing, but not why or how. Kyouya was hesitant to mention Hikaru's blame for it, afraid for the boy's life since the prince is quite emotional about his "little girl".

It was because of Tama-chan's reminder of Haruhi's status as a commoner that Kyouya realized his idiocy in believing that Haruhi would be in any real hospital. Even if she had a serious injury from the impact of possibly hitting her head, a free in-home clinic might have the supplies necessary to care for it.

He decided that she couldn't have been kidnapped because the only person out to get her had been caught and an injured girl wouldn't be worth the trouble.

He sent out messages to all patrol men to keep an eye out for home-clinics and take a look inside, sending them all an old photo of Haruhi.

The most important phone call after a half hour of research had Tamaki all ears.

Kyouya dialed Yori's number and it only took one ring for an answer.

"What do you have, Kyouya?"

"Do you have any files on in-home clinics that may have come up in recent years? Or people in the area that have the permission and funds to own any hospital equipment?"

"Ah, I see where you're going with this. I'll have some of my men look through the files we have and they'll send you whatever they find."

"Make sure every officer out there has an image of her. A few of the men I've called didn't have one so I had to send them by phone, but a printout would be better."

"Sure, I'll get right on it."

Kyouya hung up and rubbed his temples, taking his dark framed glasses off to clean them for the 5th time that morning. A storm was beginning to set in outside and he watched the rain fall against the clear expanse of windows.

He just hoped they would find _something._

~~~LALALAmakingthisalongchaptersoherestheplaceharu-chanisLALALA~~~

The old man walked into the girl's room, white coat moving freely around his shins. It was a size too big but looked warm.

She wore sweatpants and a large t-shirt that she had found lying on the table next to her bed. The blankets on top of her were thin and useless. Her arms were covering in goose-bumps and she couldn't even find warmth from the thin arms she kept wrapped around her torso.

"Are you cold, Akiko? I'll turn up the heat if you'd like."

He left before she could refuse.

She'd grown used to the name, almost, though it didn't set quite right.

Her heart began to tighten with the sound of rain and the unusual darkness at such an hour.

It confused her as to why she felt this way; it was only water falling from the sky. It's not as if it means…

Lighting cracked outside and her body trembled. It was illogical, she knew, but she felt something new; something she hadn't yet experienced since waking up without her memory. Fear.

The lights blinked out and she began to hyperventilate.

A sudden feeling of wanting to run overwhelmed her and her nerves sent her to the floor.

Crawling across the cold tile, she ran into a hard wall and guided herself away from the room, hoping it would lead away from the window, away from the monster brewing outside.

Her mind was yelling at her heart to calm down and think this through. She had serious injuries and stitches that would easily open. Her mind told her that she was being ridiculous but it didn't take long for it to shut down. _She needed to get out_.

She fumbled along, her body bruising with different things she ran into and she stood up to run, only to slip down the stairs. A loud crack of thunder shook the building and her body froze up instantaneously on the landing. Getting back what was left of her feeling, she let herself rise up and run.

Finding herself in a room with a large row of windows and cozy furniture, her eyes widened at the scene outside.

The wind was whipping against everything that stood upright and the rain was beating against the pavement of a wide road.

She turned and fell once more with the light flashing outside, getting up again and bashing into a thick wooden door. She could hear someone calling out "Akiko" but responding didn't occur to her.

She turned the cold knob and slipped onto the rough ground, something behind her slamming the door closed.

She began sobbing against her torn, bloody knees and her body felt determined to keep going. She had no control and terror hummed in her very core.

Only once the wind whipped her tangled hair into her eyes and the rain blinded her had she realized she was standing outside. She kept on going down the street, going somewhere, anywhere, while discovering a whole new meaning to the word 'desperate'.

A peel of lightening lit up the street she was on and thunder came close behind, sinking her numb, unconscious body to the hard ground.

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**That's it boys and girls! Hope it wasn't an epic fail :/ That's all I have...  
**

**FOR NOW *evil glint* stupid homework. It's already 8 pm T.T I want to write another chapter... and start my other two stories... . life is mean. I need more time. And cereal.**

***sigh* I'm a loon.**

**Please, press that shiny *shiny!!!* green button down there to give me a look into your minds O_O; or something.**

**I'll try to update again soon . I'm a cliffhanger-junkie, it seems. Sowwies.  
**


	16. F&R Chapter 16: Nice To Meet You

***Does victory dance* Somehow, I managed to write this :3 I'm very satisfied with it's speed.**

**Okay, if there are any problems, let me know . I went through it at least 3 times after I had finished typing it... and now my homework it biting at my ankles... XP**

**Ouran isn't mine but this story sure is.... though inspired by an awesome person: Icetiger 13 ^_^ thank you! (I hope she gets better soon... (Note: everyone, BE CAREFUL! The sickness is gaining on us...))  
**

**Enjoy! :D I hope it isn't absolutely horrendous...  
**

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The lights were blinding, artificial, and high-class.

When the girl awoke, she felt surprised at the whiteness of everything. At first, she thought she was waking up in one of those stereotypical heavens filled with soft white clouds and people floating around with wings on their backs. After a minute, her brain was trying to register what was real and what was not. Her head spun and everything was blurry.

On closer inspection, she was actually in a terrifyingly clean and well-sized room with only one wide bed, a door leading to what she assumed was a bathroom, and a large window whose open blinds that told her it was nighttime.

_Wait... how did I get here? Is this a different part of Hiroshi-san's place?_ She tried to remember moving from where she'd been before, but her head only throbbed.

It occurred to her that she might be in a different building altogether. It was warmer at least. She may not remember how she got here but-

A thought burst went on in her head and images of a storm and a dark street flashed inside of her and her eyes widened at the memory. It was the only substantial memory she had and… how long had she been asleep?

_Who brought me here?... Maybe I was picked up… this is probably a real hospital, judging from the level of cleanliness. Maybe they'll help me remember something…_

An audible sigh startled her, her skin prickling with the feeling of another presence. Looking over the side of the bed she laid on, she realized the two people sleeping on a futon.

_What the heck?_ She sweat dropped. _Why are there are two guys sleeping on the floor…?_

From their identical appearances, she made a wild guess that they were twins that had either a) decided she was in a coma and wouldn't mind a few new roommates, or b) they had been waiting for her to wake up.

The latter seemed more likely, but these two people were complete strangers to her. It gave her a headache just looking at them.

Closing her eyes once more, she breathed out slowly, thinking. She was happy to hear she might get some questions answered, but teenage boys could be troublesome. Very troublesome. She had a feeling that this would be a long week.

~O_o~

Hikaru's heart was at ease and he felt all the hurt in him disappear. Sleep had never quite felt so good, even if it wasn't in their custom-made bed.

Only a day before, the Hitachiin boys had gotten the call that Haruhi had finally been found.

They'd nearly cried in relief and thought they would be having a happy reunion with the bright girl they'd lost what felt like so long ago. When their car pulled up at a hospital, they felt dismayed but hopeful. Haruhi was strong, and she would heal quickly.

Upon seeing her face, they had both ran to hug her, only to be stopped by a poker-face doctor and a frazzled Kyoya. He'd been working for hours on end, researching, only to have Haruhi be found by the sheer luck of a worried cab driver.

He explained everything the doctors had found since her arrival. It wasn't much, but he said that her brain was working and there might be some small problems, but nothing too serious.

They spent a lot of time sitting around, expecting her to wake up. When she didn't, they were forced to sleep by the worrisome nurses that thought they looked like zombies, saying they would give the poor girl a heart attack when she did wake up.

Finally falling asleep, it wasn't until sometime after 2 am, according to the clock that hung above the patient's bed, that Hikaru woke again.

He whispered Kaoru's name, not wanting to pass the time alone. They both sat up and rubbed their hazy eyes.

"Where is everyone?" Kaoru looked around the room, surprised the prince hadn't been sitting around waiting for sleeping beauty to awake.

"Well, they probably had more sense than to sleep in the hospital, no matter how good the service is. *Yawn.* Ugh, it's 2 in the morning... _We_ shouldn't be up at this hour. It's bad for our skin." Hikaru leaned against the plastic hospital-style bed frame and crossed his arms.

The brown-haired girl, who identified herself as 'Akiko', awoke to the loud whispers of complaint about the room and how un-stylish it was.

She wanted more sleep, and she knew very well that it wasn't an hour anyone should be awake and arguing at.

She turned on her side and used her annoyed voice. "Both of you: either shut up or leave." She closed her eyes and felt satisfied with the sudden quiet.

The boys rose up hurriedly and gallomped the poor girl. Her small voice let out a cry of surprise.

"Wh-what are you doing?! Get off of me!" She sat up now, pushing them off, with a very confused look.

"We thought you'd never wake up!" One of the boys grinned at her and looked extremely happy. Seems they really were waiting for her. Huh. It gave her a strange feeling – other than confusion, that is.

"Yea, took you long enough." The other looked a lot grumpier. _He's the more troublesome one, I bet,_ she thought to herself.

They began firing questions at her, taking turns saying them.

"What happened yesterday?"

"Where have you been?"

"Why didn't you call?"

"Does your head hurt?"

"Why were you outside in a thunderstorm?"

They wanted to keep going but she put a hand up, saying as firmly as she could, "Stop. I'm confused."

She took a deep breath, studying their anxious faces.

"I need to clear something up first of all...who are you guys?"

They glanced at each other, eyes wide. "Haru-chan, you don't remember us?" they said together.

"No… who's Haru-chan?" It felt even weirder to have the name. _It must be a shortening of something else, _she decided. _Chan?…I guess I was close to these guys, then._

Their eyes widened even more, if that was possible, and they took a step closer to her, their faces peering down suspiciously at her.

"If you're not Haru-chan, then who are you?"

She pondered this for a moment. "Well, Hiroshi-san called me Akiko. I don't really know who I am." She smiled at them politely. "My memory seems to have gone."

They looked taken aback and sad. One of them, the troublesome one, looked down at the floor.

The other one looked around, searching for something. When he finally found it, he reached out; pressing an orange button, he called for the doctor.

The one with his eyes to the floor walked over to a couch and sat down, still staring at the clean tile, his bed-head of reddish bangs covering his eyes.

A man in a tailored doctor's coat walked in with a business smile, undisturbed by the late hour.

"What is it, Hitachiin-sama?"

The one still standing by her turned to the doctor and began to explain the missing memory, a troubled look on his face that quickly turned to distress. He began to ask questions about the memory being able to return and how long it would take before the doctor stopped him.

The man tried to calm the teenager down with soothing words. "Don't worry, it's not permanent. We weren't expecting it, but it's understandable, taking into account the placement of the injury and the impact it had on her brain. It's unknown as to how long it will take for her to regain it, but telling her about some memories you know might bring back something. It's a mystery as to how it works, but don't overburden her mind. I understand she went through a large shock the day before, though she seems alright now. I'll give her a check-up a little bit later."

They both turned and looked at the girl as if observing someone with a mental illness.

She began to grind her teeth, annoyed they were talking about her like she wasn't in the room. She had a mind of her own and she didn't like being treated like someone who didn't have the capacity to understand her own situation.

The doctor left and the boy quickly wiped at his eyes, the moisture visible on his fingers.

He walked over and sat down next to his twin.

She couldn't hear, but he whispered something to the other boy.

"I know it's bad but we're going to figure it out." Kaoru paused, thinking over what he would say next. "I think… you should be the one who explains everything to her. It's going to be painful, but it'll do you both good. Please." Kaoru squeezed Hikaru's hand and Hikaru's eyes looked up, disbelieving his brother's intentions.

He got up and left a bewildered Hikaru where he sat to go find something to eat for them.

It took a few minutes, but she was patient. She had a feeling Hikaru would be the one to reveal the details of her life to her, so she waited for him to at least stand up and come over.

When he finally did so, he took a deep breath and reopened the eyes he didn't realize had closed.

"My-my name's Hikaru Hitachiin." He looked away, embarrassed he was the one who had to do this. It felt uncomfortable.

"Nice to meet you, Hitachiin-san." She didn't want to seem overly-familiar. He wasn't having any of that.

"Call me Hikaru."

"Okay then." She smiled the way he had always loved. "Nice to meet you, Hikaru-san." His annoyance was growing, but he fought it.

"Hikaru." He didn't want formalities.

"What?" She turned her head to the side, her eyes innocent.

He blushed at her cuteness, trying to hide his face. "J-just call me Hikaru."

"Oh, okay then, Hikaru."

_This is going to be rough. Just breathe, Hikaru. Don't act like an idiot. _He was arguing with himself inside, trying to hold back his old tendencies. It was a difficult job.

She thought about something for a minute and realized that she should find out more about herself.

"What's my real name?"

"Haruhi Fujioka." She took this in, the name fitting nicely in her mind.

"I don't mean to sound rude, but what are you guys doing here? Where are my parents?" She had a feeling she knew the answer already, but decided to confirm those thoughts.

He looked exceedingly uncomfortable answering. "Well, you're mother passed away a while ago, when you were younger…" He glanced at her, unsure of her reaction, before going on. "You're father passed away about a month ago. It's complicated, but somehow you ended up living with us. We go to school together." He didn't want to have to start explaining the crazed host club just yet.

"Oh." Her heart panged a bit in pain but she ignored it. She accepted the facts and wanted to continue with her discoveries.

"Do you want to sit down? It's not very comfortable standing for so long." She scooted over a bit, unhesitating, and patted the new space beside her.

For a moment, she thought she was imagining the pink in his cheeks. _Did I do something weird?_

He sat down awkwardly, unable to look at her face. She really was dense.

"So, what's your brother's name?"

"Kaoru. He left to get food. You hungry?"

As if on cue, her stomach growled noisily and Hikaru burst out laughing.

She ignored the human functions of her stomach and studied the boy.

_He looks cute when he laughs. It's better than that sour look he had on earlier._ She giggled at the thought, before being able to stop herself. …_Cute? Where did I get 'cute' from?_ She felt embarrassed for thinking about this stranger in such a way, living together or not.

Kaoru stepped into the happy scene with a smile on his face and arms filled with trays of high-class food that wouldn't come near any normal hospital. The girl assumed that these boys were far from middle-class.

Hikaru let himself be immersed in the happy moment and forgot everything that had tore him up inside earlier. He rejoiced the fresh start he had in Haruhi's heart and began to be supremely thankful for her non-curiosity in anything unnecessary. She accepted whatever they told her without a doubt.

She was till the same Haruhi, just without the normal comfort she would show in their presence. She was as polite as ever and he was annoyed whenever she acted like they were still strangers.

It wasn't until the host club showed up that she began to get confused.

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**Muahahaha, I'm looking forward to the next chappie XD**

**Please, please, please, let me know what you think. Or, even better, just let me know that you read it T.T I live for that kind of stuff...**

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**Thank you for making it this far! Cookies for everyone! (My sister made them yesterday, and they're soft *runs off to get one for self...with milk*)  
**


	17. F&R Chapter 17: The First Fragment

**T.T kill me now. I'm a meanie-poo.**

**The end of the marking period at school FINALLY ended *does victory dance* stupid unit tests.**

**I wrote 80% of this a week ago and then I realized tonight: "HOLY CRAP *hits self violently on forehead, issuing massive brain-cell loss* I FORGOT TO FINISH AND POST!!"**

**__ I didn't even edit the last part. I'm waiting for warden - I mean MOTHER, to come in to turn off my electricity. I think she hates my laptop.... (BATTERY POWERED! X3)**

**I've been working on my drawing skills a lot as well.... but it's not even in my heart to begin with the excuses.**

**Want someone to blame? *points finger at computer screen* it's all youtube's fault!!  
**

**XP I fell in love with Katekyo Hitman Reborn.... 'Tis awesome. I made it to ep. 92 already. that's what I've been doing. ToT so addictive!**

**Disclaimer: Would someone as big of an idiot as me be the owner of something as awesome as OHSHC? O_o  
**

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**Chapter 17~~**

It was early yet the exhaustion had only begun to set in. Since waking up at two in the morning is rough for anything other than a vampire, hanging around the hospital room turned into trying to prop your eyelids up and attempting to avoid dozing off during a pause in conversation. She was tired but the boys had missed her so much; they didn't want to let her go, even for a moment.

Recent events were things the boys had tried to suppress and Hikaru let himself forget the self hate that had enveloped him the past few days. Both of them had gone back to trying to annoy the girl to the fullest. Life was so much easier that way right?

It had only lasted three hours and they were like zombies.

She yawned, trying to pull the bows the boys had forced onto her head. Good thing they brushed her hair first, or else she might have gone bald from the confusing little clips ripping at her scalp.

Kaoru got up off the corner of the bed he leaned against and promptly fell to the floor, lucky enough that the futon lay below. "I'm going to sleep," he mumbled into the pillow.

Hikaru followed soon after, only taking a glance back at the girl, hoping she would be fine on her own. Her eyes were already closed and her breathing quiet and peaceful. He fell on the futon below him and closed his eyes, dreams escaping him once more.

The room was peaceful and the wind blew gently against the window pane. The weather was nice, though cloudy. It looked like snow was on the way, while the hospital was nice and warm.

The boys were so wrapped up in seeing Haruhi again that they had forgotten about the other club members. The others had purposefully not been notified at first to give Haru-chan a chance to recuperate before being severely mentally worn out.

However, Kyoya's missing presence hadn't gone unnoticed in the Otori home by Tamaki when he woke up, hungry.

It was only a few hours into their slumber when the door banged open, the sleepers' heavy eyelids barely opening. Their bodies were too heavy to move and their brains too slow to care.

A crazed blonde boy bounded toward the half-asleep girl and squeezed the life out her, screaming "HARRRUUHHHIII!!" as he went. "My dear precious Haruhi! I was so worried! How could you have just run away!? You could have just come to my place!! I always have a room prepared just for you!!"

Now fully awake, the three sweat-dropped. _What a creep,_ she thought.

She pushed him off, her cuts and bruises now sore again.

He was heart-broken at first but finally realized the severity of her condition. Her head was wrapped in thick gauze and her face was rather pale. Her arms had numerous bandages and splotches of bruises covered her skin. She looked even thinner than usual.

"H-Haruhi…" His hyper-activity dulled and he became sad. What had she gone through this last week?

"Haru-chan!" A short boy popped out from the doorway and a ridiculously tall boy followed suite, coming off with an aura of peace and quiet.

The little one hopped up and gave her a gentle hug, placing a pink bunny in her lap. "Usa-chan came to see you too." He smiled and laughed. _Is he in elementary school?_ she wondered.

Hikaru and Kaoru, the only ones she could identify to any extent, got up slowly and awkwardly looked at the others, uncomfortable with what they had to explain. It wasn;t the time to be annoyed at being woken up by the idiot.

A dark haired boy walked in, wearing glasses and carrying a black notebook in his hand. "She doesn't know any of you. Well… except for the twins she met this morning." A spark of shock played out on the newly arrived faces, although he seemed pretty nonchalant about it._ He looks like he knows them, but he acts so different from… that…s_he looked over at the blonde boy who'd nearly strangled her with his enthusiasm.

"Eeeehh?! What's that supposed to mean?! Stop teasing daddy!! Lying isn't nice you know!" The blonde turned to her and grabbed her hand dramatically. "You remember your daddy, don't you?"

"I'd never have a moron of a father like you." There was no hesitation in her voice and the ditz went into his corner of depression, growing what seemed to be colorful mushrooms. "Aren't those poisonous?" She asked when he tried to add them to the bowl of ramen he had pulled from thin air. The corner became darker as his figure lost its complexion and sort of disintegrated with a small breeze.

"What a drama queen…" she muttered mostly to herself. She sighed heavily, unable to comprehend his level of idiocy. "Is he in my grade?"

The twins shook their heads. "He's a year older, in the same class as Kyoya." They pointed to the dark-haired poker face master.

"Oh." Things were almost clearing up.

" Well then, I'm Hunny, and this is Mori. You don't need to worry about full names, Haru-chan. We're two years older and go to university." He smiled up at her.

This made her twitch. _He really looks like an elementary school kid…_

Her stomach growled loudly and she remembered the high-class food they'd eaten a few hours ago. It had been delicious, but all she wanted was something less flashy with more substance.

The princely (although idiotic) character jumped from where he'd sat, springing on the chance to show off his gentlemanly abilities.

"Oh my! How can we let out dear princess go famished? You two, go get some food!" The boy pointed a finger in the two red-headed boys' direction and they ignored him, talking into an intercom on the wall about getting some room service.

_Since when was this a hotel?_ She thought to herself.

Three women in maid outfits walked in and Haruhi, if that's what her name really was, was lifted gently onto a very, very nice leather wheelchair, unlike one she'd ever have imagined would be in a hospital. _How in the world did I get involved with such rich people…?_

The people she still saw as strangers followed closely behind.

After a few nicely furnished corridors passed by, a door slid open to reveal an open space with tables and lush chairs.

It was a comfortable room, with small chandeliers and white tablecloths. It was like a restaurant, but that wouldn't make sense. This was a hospital after all. Where were the uncomfortable waiting rooms and vending machines with warm coffee and processed bags of fat?

They sat down at one of the larger tables in the middle and the brown haired girl looked questioningly at the man in black and white who walked in, a small pad in hand.

"Hello, I have received a notice that Mr. Otori will be joining you soon, but has asked you to go ahead and order without his presence. Anything that you want, we will more than happily serve for you."

Everyone looked at Haruhi, the short boy speaking up. "What do you want to eat, Haru-chan?"

"Maybe some oatmeal…?" She almost expected an answer, but something told her that wasn't how it worked.

The man jotted it down, holding back a chuckle at the simplicity of her order.

Everyone else ordered strange things that she couldn't even begin to pronounce. The fancy bishounen fit right in with the décor. Although, Hunny ordered cake, which she thought rather odd, considering it was breakfast time, but she didn't mention it. These people were strange enough, and she wasn't really interested in becoming more confused.

Breakfast passed enjoyably, the crankier of the two red-heads being rather silent. He would glance at her reactions to some of the stranger things that went on, such as the blonde Tama-chan's mood swings, and ten he would avert his eyes when his staring was noticed by her.

She decided that something must have happened before her memory blanked out. _It must still be bothering him, _she thought. _He probably would feel uncomfortable if I asked him about it though…_

She kept her mind off of it the best she could, always catching his eyes studying her. It irked her to be watched. It got to bother her so much that by the time everyone had finished with their food and were talking about their own upcoming winter break, she had to excuse herself from the table, over-emotional yells by Tamaki trailing behind her.

Following the clearly-written signs, the bathroom proved to be clean and very much in order; she smiled at its own elegant simplicity.

The bathroom mirror stared back rather as she rinsed her face, her head throbbing slightly at its horizontal angle.

"Ah, I need to learn to be more careful." She touched the bandaging carefully, adjusting it in her reflection.

Examining herself, she noticed her unruly hair and pale face. Her brown eyes stared back at her and something flashed.

Something violent banged inside of her head and an image made its self known. Was it a memory? A fragment? A glimpse of a real piece of herself?

It was murky and she clutched the sides of her head, her knees giving way to the sudden lead weights on her shoulders.

Her body shook aggressively and the image became clear. Angry eyes looked at her and she reeled at the beautiful color. It was a golden green, caramel almost. They were dazed but fierce. A glare shaped them but she could tell they were being controlled by something other than hate. _Frustration, maybe?_

The image was gone and suddenly she remembered all the injuries she'd sustained. She noticed the bruises she had and the pain swelling in her head made her want to scream, but she held it back.

The tile beneath her shivering legs was cold and she hyperventilated a bit. Her face was flush with heat but everything seemed frozen to the touch. Nausea shook her recently filled stomach and she reeled it out into the closest stall.

The next few minutes passed is fright. She wasn't used to feeling so week, so helpless. Sure, she was covered in wounds from head to toe and she didn't have much more to her than skin and bones, but this weakness was something very, very different. It was real, as if beneath her fingers. It squirmed its way into her skin and nerves.

What brought her to open her eyes was the new banging on solid wood. The door didn't seem to want to hold up to the strength of the fists and she got up, the toilet automatically flushing her outburst back to its clean white.

"Someone there?" She called as she reached for fresh water from the sink, hoping to get rid of the horrid taste overwhelming her mouth. She threw water to get rid of the beads of sweat that had gathered on her cheeks, the gauze that was her forehead suddenly feeling stuffy.

"Haaaruuuhhiiii!!!! Are you alive?! Do you need any help?! CPR? I can do it!!"

She twitched at that, drying her face.

"I'm fine. I think I'd rather choke." The second part she muttered more to herself, but snickers let her know it didn't go unheard.

The aura of his dramatic depression emanated through the wall and she sighed.

_How do I even know these people?_ She shook her head slowly and unlocked the door, not remembering having ever locked the multi-person bathroom.

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**Here you goes, my non-edited piece of lateness.**

**Let me know if you see errors!! I shall fix them :3 criticism makes me happy.**

**Again, let me know how many of you are alive. Or else I shall send you Tono to give CPR *_* we all know how that might end.**


	18. F&R Chapter 18: Instinct to Prophecy

**Bwahaha, I've finally managed an update!! :3 only took.... aw, I don't even want to check T.T**

**Yes, I'm a slowpoke at updating, sowwy _ if it makes you all feel any better... I wrote almost all of chapter 19...**

**this chapter is actually rather short.... okay REALLY short, but that's why I set to work on the other one! it should be posted very soon actually... send me angry messages if it isn't _"**

**I was actually just wondering whether I should attempt a noob-y fan art for this, but I'm afraid I'll fail and people will pity me and feel obligated to say it's alright... be honest always!**

**maybe I'll just stick to what I'm almost moderately good at... writing.... if even that XD**

**Enough of my rambling!! On to the short update! (Sowwy again!)  
**

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A blond haired idiot stood outside the big white room, his eyes like a puppy's and pleading to be allowed back in.

The glasses boy, Kyouya, had finally forced him out of the hospital room since Tamaki's "overpowering emotion" was only making her condition worse. He'd managed to hug/attack the fragile girl a couple of times too roughly and the nurses had to redress her head, four of the boys staying to keep her company.

"Haru-chan, that looks like it hurts…" The small-sized boy's lip quivered as the two women pulled off the messy bandaging as gently as they were trained to do. The piece of gauze was so long, it was seemed never-ending.

She smiled reassuringly, hiding the throb of her head. She forced her voice to stay even; "It's fine."

The boy had his arms grasped around his stoic friend's neck and the friend looked on, a wince showing in his eyes as the wound was now clearly visible.

The blond Tono looked in horror at just how bad the back of her head was and the brown haired girl kept her eyes closed and on other thoughts, anything aside from the pain.

The temperamental twin, Hikaru, managed to watch for only a few moments until he couldn't bear it any longer. The suppressed self-hate came back, laughing at him.

Kaoru looked to his brother with worried eyes and watched the boy run from the room shakily, a large bang issuing from the door hitting something, possibly the wall. Kaoru followed suit.

She opened her eyes slowly, unsure of what happened. The idea that something had gone on between them was even more likely to her now. _Was there something that upset him? Did I do something?_

She twitched as the disinfectant was put onto the gash but was able to hold back a little cry of pain. _It can't be that bad. People just overreact to a little cut._

After the worst of it passed, the little Huni was near tears looking at his friend.

"Haru-chan, do you not remember anything about how you got that? All we were told was that you hit your head on something."

"You know more than I do, I guess. I must be pretty clumsy."

Huni unwrapped himself from the tall Mori and gave her a tight hug, being much more careful than Tamaki.

"We were really worried Haru-chan. Getting a call that you were in the hospital after everything else that's been going on… we thought you'd been attacked by that mean man. We were ready to go teach him a lesson, right Takashi?" His eyes glowed evil for a moment.

"Hn."

"Um, it's really alright..." She sweat-dropped. _Who are these people?_

"Where did Hika-chan and Kao-chan run off to? …what's the matter with Tono?" Huni looked to the door, Tamaki still looking inwards longingly.

The girl looked at him, noticing a rectangle of red on his face. Realization came to her and she giggled.

"He got smacked in the face by the door when the boys ran out."

Tamaki cried dramatically as she laughed at the look on his face, but it grew redder from something other than the impact of the solid door. "_She looks so cute when she laughs!" _he cried inwardly.

In another room, another hallway, another level, two boys sit in an empty room. One is gripping his torso, as if holding himself together, afraid he will break apart. The other hugs his brother, doing the only thing he knows to do: to be there.

"Kaoru?" a muffled voice asks.

"Yea?"

"Why does it hurt so much?"

The other chuckles in reply. "I believe this is what they call love."

"No wonder."

"Hm."

"Kaoru?"

"Yes?"

"I'm sorry."

"It's alright. Everyone is safe now. Everything is going to be alright."

"I don't think so. I feel like something bad is going to happen. I'm scared."

Silence encases the room and no more words are exchanged but the communication continues through their chests, from heart to heart.

After everything, after all the hurt and pain and tears, how could there be more? How could there possibly be more suffering? More loss?

Well, never forget the world outside your own. Because one day, it might come by certain surprise to tear apart what little stability has been redeemed. Hikaru's instinct was truer than ever.

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**Does this count as an evil cliffhanger? Let me know what you think -_-" I don't mean to be mean. (hah!)**

**remember boys and girls! send angry messages if I don't update soon... threats work too XD otherwise I'm unbelievably side tracked.**

**if anyone has even attempted a HikaxHaru fanart for anything... let me know ^__^ I'm actually a really big fan of it and am always searching for more to look at. Acutally, it can be anything related to Ouran... _ it's alright if I'm not worthy to lay my eyes upon it... I just want to know if there are any drawers out there.  
**

**Press that additively green button... you know you waaannnt tooooo. **

**again, sorry for the shortness of this chapter and the horrible length of my ramblings. any issues with my writing, let me know.**

**A cookie for everyone who reads and a giant cake (whatever kind your heart desires) from Huni for anyone who reviews. I might even make it green XD  
**


	19. F&R Chapter 19: It's All Over?

***deep breath* ... FINALL! **

**This only took forever to do... T.T me so sorry. **

**My reasoning? This chapter will never make me happy. I've edited, re-editing, re-written, and then re-edited this way too many times. **

**It is the hardest chapter I have done yet... I apologize if it seems out of character or out of place. Or short XD  
**

**I think that now that I've gotten this finally posted, I'll get back into a normal work schedule... uhhh, I hope so at least xD **

**Disclaimer: I don't own OHSHC but if I did, it would be bad. so... yeah. xD**

**On to the mean chapter that almost killed me. yay?  
**

* * *

Slightly confused and rather overwhelmed, the brunette girl goes over what little has been explained to her. Just as predicted, she was an orphan.

Her mother had been gone since long ago, and her father was only recently deceased. This meant the money in his will could be used to hospital fees, since they were sure to be high. She'd have to find a way to send compensation for Dr. Hiroshi as well.

Her life was getting back on track, thankfully, and she could probably make it out of the hospital soon.

Although, what struck her as strange was the fact she lived with the two twins. No matter how rich these people might be, wasn't it a little out of place to give residence to a friend? Wasn't it rather troublesome for them? They didn't quite seem the charity type.

With that idea in mind, she decided that she'd find a job and work to repay what they'd done for her too, their reasoning being irrelevant. From how upset the Hikaru boy had been, she'd done something terrible for sure. The only sure way to fix things was to try and separate herself from their overwhelming generosity, and let them go back to the lives they had led before she'd gotten herself into this kind of mess.

Trying to change her stream of thoughts to something else, she stared longingly at the book she'd been attempting to read. It was one the nurses had brought her, but trying to process text made her head throb even more than usual. How cruel it was that the only past-time she had made her feel pain. Sighing dejectedly, she shifted herself to gaze out the window, the sky already dark with night.

At this point, all the crazed boys she (apparently) knew had disappeared. The third and second years had gone home to get some rest before returning to school (although the Tamaki boy had to be dragged forcefully by the others). The twins had gone off to the private quarters of the hospital refusing to go home, saying they wanted to "see what it was like" to spend the night in a hospital. At least they seemed a but more cheerful.

"This hospital really does have everything," she muttered to no one in particular.

"Too bad their security system is horrible."

She turned in surprise to a man who stood in her doorway. Goosebumps appeared on her forearms and her mind reasoned with her body's reaction. Something about him made her skin crawl and a cold shiver ran up her spine, but that couldn't be true.

_There's something creepy about him, but why do I feel sort of… scared? My head must still be out of whack… He's probably just another person I need to remember anyways. _

"Who are you?"

His returning grin was malicious. "I'm just a friend."

"Do you have a name?"

"Sure." He grinned wider.

She didn't feel like arguing with him over something he was so resistant to share so she focused her energy more on calming down. However, before that could happen, something more flashed into her mind.

_A man stands in an alleyway with a gun, a more womanish man at his feet. The fallen one bleeds, having been shot. The cool pavement below him becomes soaked with the warmth flooding from his wound._

_The standing man turned towards her, his eves glinting evilly. They were a dirty brown color, like mud; cold and shallow._

As she came back to reality, she noticed the eyes looking at her. She knew deep down that though two people with the same eye color was possible, it was highly unlikely.

"What do you want?" her voice quivering against her will.

"Nothing much." He looked at the window, as if contemplating something.

"You realize you can't leave if they notice you're here." She tried to gain control and the best she could do was to grip the covers of the bed and keep her head high. The feeling that he was a bad man held true to her thoughts, and this could more than possibly become dangerous. He'd killed one person already so his capability to do worse was likely.

He shrugged. "I know. But a life sentence in jail awaits me anyways, so not as if it makes a difference to me. I just wanted to… tie up some loose ends." He looked at her once more, sending another cold chill up her back. After meeting her eyes, he walked thoughtfully around the room.

"I can just call security." She looked at the glaring orange button next to her, only a few feet away.

"If you can make it, that is." He pulled out two knives, one shooting forwards and landing on the wall between her and her only chance of survival. Somehow the space between her and the button had grown; three feet had never seemed so far.

Helplessness set in slowly, choking her. It was the most horrible feeling, worse than anything she'd ever surely experienced before. The mantra "think of happy thoughts" made her feel like hitting someone in the face. She wasn't even a violent person, really.

Calming down and waiting for someone was her best bet, but that kind of rationality escaped her.

After taking into consideration her bad reflexes and weak limbs her chances of fighting back was close to nil. Her only ability in her weak state was reasoning. She wasn't stalling; she just wanted to calm this man down. There must be a way she could end all of this rubbish here and now.

"What's the point of killing me, anyways? I don't see anything that I have that you could possibly want to gain."

He smiled with a consoling look upon his face. "How sad, in your final moments you come to realize just how insignificant you are, and just how little people care for you. If those boys realized anything, they would have detected that it was my poor twin brother who was sent to prison in my place. Nobody really can tell us apart, after all."

She shook her own head sadly, her eyes honest. "It must be horrible to never be able to be told apart. I can only imagine how awful it must be that no one can tell such a stark difference between two individuals. However, it must be a cruel fate to be sent to jail in your brother's place. Don't you feel lonely now that you are all alone?"

She wasn't being calculative and she definitely wasn't trying to manipulate his weak point. She was just being blunt Haruhi, saying things as they were, forever sincere in every syllable.

This only made him mad, or rather, madder.

He spoke slowly, emphasis dripped onto every other word. "What the fuck do you know? I should just kill you now, while I have the time to make it rather… painful." He stalked forwards, knife in hand.

Fear whipped her heart and she tensed a little. Her mind swooned and everything _finally_ flooded back into place.

For a moment, dizziness swept her by but as it cleared, everything made sense. This was her father's murderer, and this was the end.

Her mother and father's image smiled at her now, and she smiled back. Knowing them once more helped a bit, the terror stifled by their faces.

The grubby man's hand choked her neck and she took a quick breath, knowing it might be her last. Her short moment with her parents came to an end.

Something new occurred to her, and she thought about how she still had things to do. She owed it to the host club to say goodbye, not ignoring the fact she still owed them money. She smiled foolishly at the never-ending debt, thinking "_I would have probably never gotten it fulfilled. Once I did, they would have found some other dark secret to hold me back on…_"

Hikaru's tortured face plastered itself into her mind.

Her head went warm as she remembered what had led her to this series of events.

The man grinned at her abrupt discomfort.

She tried to make her voice work once more helplessly. "No, no! I still need to apologize to Hikaru! Please, you can't kill me yet-" her voice cut off by his grip tightening. Oxygen finally ran out as she hyperventilated a bit and she couldn't help but begin to struggle. One hand left her neck and she realized the knife had been left on the bedside table.

She didn't want to hurt this man. She couldn't. It didn't matter if he'd done something as horrible as murder her father; he was just a man who was overwhelmed by hate. Hurting him would make her no better.

His hand slicked back the soft brown hair that had fallen onto her paling face and he pushed it roughly behind her ear.

"I pity you," she muttered.

He guffawed and slapped her hard across the face. He let go and began beating on her, although avoiding her face this time. He yelled out, like a madman, "I'd hit you in the face, but it'd be a shame to spoil something so pretty. And we can't have you lose consciousness, can we? I know your head is what'll let you stop feeling, but oh, do I want you to feel this!" He laughed and kicked her from the mattress. He walked back over and kicked her harder, sending her back into the wall, a thump echoing in the now still room.

Consciousness was lost and she drifted. The blackness enveloped her slowly and it saved her from the pain. _This is it.

* * *

_

**T.T" it sort of made me want to cry to write such a negative cliffhanger.**

**Don't fear! I shall *try* to get another chapter posted... Christmas break is the best time for it XD but it's so faaar away.  
**

**Thank you for sticking with me through this incredibly looong story (at least it feels long to me.. XD )**

**thankyou again!!!!**

**Leave me a hi even if you have nothing more to say... or a face to show your reaction XD (- this, I use a LOT XD see??)  
**


	20. F&R Chapter 20: His Wait Ends

***heehee* IT'S HERE! IT'S REALLY HERE! YAHOO!!**

**As you can see, I'm VERY pleased to show you the completion of this chapter.... _ it only took forever, right?**

**Alrighty, this is far as I go with long chapters... 3000 words is the best I can do XD It was 9 pages (1.5 spaced!) on my word thing so... I believe this is lying to me that it can be so little T.T maybe I had too much dialogue?**

**Anywho! I really apologize for the really long delay, I felt bad every time I get an email from Fanfiction... which is every day TT_TT I'm guilty of the worst cliffhanger, I know.**

**I tried, really tried, to get this to be a satisfactory installment and no excuse will make up for making you wait a month.**

**PLEASE let me know if this is okay.**

**OH!!! By the way, not that is an excuse, but I got a tablet (makes me smile just to think I finally got it in me to buy it, and now I am pretty addicted to it XD) and the second piece of artwork I did was a fan art for this story. I thought you guys deserved something a little bit extra, but I apologize if my drawing stinks XU I'm still a noob. Uhhh, the link won't show up here, but you just do "cofunkle10" and then ".deviantart" and ".com" and the newest thing will be it. I apologize for the difficulty to show it to you T.T I'll put another link on my profile.  
**

* * *

**Forgetting and Remembering, Chapter 20.**

Light burned through her eyelids and she felt sluggish. Rubbing her face a bit, she sat up, her hand shielding the sunlight from her eyes.

_Was the sun always this bright?_

She thought back and realized it was a completely different room from that which she'd previously resided. A reason for the change didn't come to her at first but memories filled in the gaps.

She sighed out in a sort of relief that scratched her throat. The pain accompanying it was brief but sharp.

From the sensation of pain she was assured that she in fact still alive.

She looked down at the new bandages around her limbs and the ones she could feel around her neck and torso.

She also noticed the swollen lump had out-swelled its predecessor as she touched the back of her skull, but the contact stung. A grimace framed her lips.

A pair of golden, anxious eyes watched her from a nearby couch, and the teenage boy who owned them came forward.

"You okay?" He looked at her injuries, his eyes trailing over her bruised arms as if they were hiding something more painful beneath the colorful skin.

"Oh. Hikaru. I'm fine." She smiled reassuringly, trying to rid the discontented worry from his face.

"Be careful with moving around, the doctor said you had a couple of broken ribs." The new voice came from Hikaru's twin who entered the room.

"So, want to know what happened? Or did Hikaru fill you in on his heroic endeavor already?" Kaoru nudged his brother.

"Shut up Kaoru. She probably doesn't want to think about it right now." Hikaru sent a 'don't-you-dare' look at his brother.

"You know Haruhi doesn't like it when you talk like she's not in the room." Kaoru looked at the girl in question, smiling. "Wanna know what happened?"

"An explanation would be nice."

Hikaru looked away, faint pink flooding his cheeks; _why does he always have to do this?_

"On the night of the attack, Hikaru was acting antsy and finally left to check up on you. I followed him, even though he was practically running. We both saw you get, uh, kicked into a wall. When your ribs cracked… I've never heard such a… _horrible_ sound. You should have seen Hika's face. He knocked the guy out with a chair and hit the orange button, screaming over the intercom to bring security in. I watched as he beat up the asshole and even the guards had trouble getting him off."

Haruhi looked at Hikaru, and he shied away from the intensity of her gaze. She studied him and he feared her next comment and a moment passed in silence.

The simplicity of what she finally did say took him by unmatched surprise.

"Thank you for saving my life Hikaru."

He looked back at her and noticed a peculiar glimmer in her eyes that unnerved him. Looking quickly down at the floor, the faint pink in his cheeks became noticeably brighter.

"Uh, no problem," he responded lamely.

Kaoru sighed at his brother's un-coolness. "I'm gonna go talk with Kyoya. He's pretty irked that the guy got past security, and I'd be surprised if he hasn't terrorized half the staff yet."

He winked at Hikaru and whispered, "Don't screw it up."

Hikaru's face flushed and he rebuffed, "O-Oi! What's that-"

The door slamming cut him off and Kaoru's giddy laugh echoed from the hallway.

"I'm glad you're okay."

Hikaru turned, surprised by the change of topic.

"What are you talking about?"

"You were in a pretty bad state back then and I'm glad to see you're doing better. I was worried about you, and it seemed following you was the only option. I'm sorry for causing so much trouble these past few… weeks is it?" She guesstimated all the time she'd spent blacked out and sitting alone in hospital beds. It seemed like forever since she'd been in the Hitachiin mansion.

"You're so messed up Haruhi." He looked down at the ground again, but his mind caught onto what she said.

"Wait a minute! H-Haruhi… you… remember?"

His eyes bore into hers and she felt a tickle inside her stomach from the sudden eye contact.

"Yeah, I remembered at some point before you showed up, it seems. I really have gotten you guys uprooted from your lives, haven't I? You've probably already missed enough school as is."

He glared at her bandaged neck, unable to meet her brown orbs. Trying to hold back his temper was difficult and it finally overrode him.

"That's all you have to say?!" He continued glaring and raging, as she sat and stared. "What do you think would have happened if I hadn't come in time, huh?"

She paused. "Oh."

She'd made the comment only after thinking about how traumatizing it must have been for them to hear about these sorts of horrible things, over and over again. She'd learned that these people were her friends, but being so, they cared and worried for her more than anything. She should have remembered that but with all the new changes in her life, it had slipped.

Her heart fluttered at the feeling. She was enveloped by warmth in knowing she wasn't alone and feared the redness in her cheeks wasn't as visible as it felt.

"I'm sorry Hikaru. I didn't mean to make you guys worry so much. I'm always making you angry, aren't I?"

The fury drained.

"No, I didn't mean to be so angry all of a sudden. I just, uh, need some sleep, you know?"

"You haven't slept at all?"

"Well… I was sort of waiting for you to wake up. I couldn't really sleep… and I don't want to leave you here alone." Hikaru scratched the back of his head sheepishly. It hadn't been bad to watch her sleeping but he'd been so worried that something else would go horribly wrong that he couldn't even bring himself to leave.

Haruhi looked down at the new bed she had. It was almost as big as the one in her room at the Hitachiin mansion and it gave her an idea.

Scooting from the middle of the bed she smiled at him, pulling back the edge of the covers. "Here, this is probably better than taking a nap on the couch."

"Eh? W-wait, b-but I c-couldn't…"

"Come on, I trust you won't kick me out of the bed, right?"

"Well, yea, but…"

"Then there's no problem."

He sighed at her normal stubbornness, complying. Too tired to be embarrassed with the closeness, he scooted in next to her fragile, beaten body.

"Sleep well." She yawned and closed her eyes, her face tilting in his direction.

"Geez, what am I going to do with you?" he murmured.

He leaned back and let his eyes close, relaxation loosening his muscles.

They slept; Haruhi leaned on his shoulder and his cheek pressed against the top of her head.

_CLICK. _"Good job bro." Kaoru put his camera away and went to get some rest of his own.

_-***-_

"Hey Haruhi, sleeping is good and all but how about some breakfast?"

She opened an eye and looked at the loud red-head who'd woken her up.

"Hm?"

"I got you lots of stuff. Any preference?" He pushed the tray of fancy food in her face and she breathed in the delicious scent. She nearly drooled at how yummy it looked and her eyes sparkled hungrily.

"Hikaru, is it really alright for me to have all this? What about you?" The tray was placed on her lap and her eyes didn't move from it.

"Yup, I already ate. It's more of a midnight snack anyways, considering how messed up our hours are because of that nap."

"Right. Well, then… thanks."

They talked as she ate slowly, going through and experimenting everything first. Hikaru admitted having stolen the ice cream bar on the way from the cafeteria.

The boy felt happy and his heart thumped when Haruhi fed him some food from her fork – an indirect kiss. Their faces got a bit too close and Haruhi looked up to see an extremely red face only an inch from her own.

Hikaru excused himself abruptly and ran to the hallway bathroom to flush his over-heated face with cool water. Kaoru stepped in behind him and laughed.

"Hikaru, you're going to need to get a move on before you get so utterly in love that you get sick."

"What are you blabbering about?"

"It's obvious you love her, so it's about time you do something about it. She's probably feeling pretty vulnerable right now and I say you go in for the kill."

Hikaru visibly flinched at the word. He breathed out heavily, a new maturity evident in his eyes.

"I'm not going to manipulate her into liking me, if that's what you mean. I don't want something as artificial as forced feelings." He walked away but didn't make it far until Kaoru had him by the arm.

"You know as well as I do that Haruhi is the least 'artificial' person we know. And I don't think you'd have to do much to make her realize…" Kaoru's voice softened to nothingness and he smiled warmly at his brother.

"What are you going on about?" Hikaru said, dense as ever.

Kaoru sighed dramatically, waving his hand in the air as if to diminish the thought. "Never mind. With two idiots like you, this'll never get anywhere."

"What's that supposed to mean?!"

Hikaru went on bickering as Kaoru made vague comments that didn't seem to make sense.

This whole thing could either end very well, or never end at all. Kaoru was putting his bets on the former.

*-__-*

A month went by as spring thawed out the sleeping plants and the world was refreshed once more.

"Hikaru, don't come in! Just go get in the car and wait for me, okay?"

"You're acting way too suspicious."

Kaoru tried to cover most of the doorway with his tall frame. Much to his disadvantage, his twin had an identical height and could stretch his neck to see inside the room.

He listened in as he watched the television play.

"_We bring you the latest news on the case involving a young high school scholarship student of Ouran Academy. Haruhi Fujioka had been sought by the murderer of her father and somehow disappeared one night. According to our sources, she had been following a classmate, worried about his disposition. Kyoko, do you have any more information on an update for us?"_

"_Yes, I do. It was a horrible heartrending story and I have been following it since it was first released to the public. We are happy to say the man has been finally caught and yesterday had a court hearing to announce a life in jail. I think the classmate shouldn't have brought that kind of trouble on the poor girl. It was very irresponsible and I hope he understands the extent of his foolishness."_

"_Thank you. Now we go on for our next major headline…"_

The television's surround sound faded as Hikaru's mind went into neutral.

As Kaoru left the mansion on his own to make the weekend stay with Haruhi for the first time by himself, he made a last comment to his muted brother.

"She'll be very disappointed you didn't come, but I'm sure she'll understand… Hikaru, it's part of the past. We heal and move on." Kaoru hugged his brother tightly. "Come join us whenever you're up to it, okay?" No response still.

When Kaoru made it to the hospital, the missing presence of his brother caused obvious disappointment to the bed-ridden girl.

"So, he's not coming this weekend?"

"Well, I'm not sure… I told him to join us whenever he could."

Kaoru silently thanked Haruhi's lack of curiosity and her un-prying manner. "Alright," she said softly.

"I'm going to ask the doctor when we can bring you home. Be back in a sec." He left and Haruhi was left in silence once more.

She hugged her arms, an enveloping feeling overcoming her slowly, creeping over her skin and seeping into her the marrow of her bones.

It was a feeling that had been ticking away at her daily and if she had to be honest with herself, only Hikaru being near her seemed to tame it.

The countless hours they spent together while Kaoru somehow managed to slip away to do one task or another were precious moments where Haruhi felt whole, but the lack of him was what drove her mind and body to lonely starvation.

The feeling of another warm body holding on to her tight in a hug, as if to never let go was what she secretly yearned for. And most of the time it was Hikaru's head that belonged to the reassuring arms she imagined wrapped around her. He was just so much _there_ that he had become her lifeline.

It made her feel pathetic to think it, but she needed him. She needed him more than anything but it wasn't until he'd chosen to not show up that she realized what it really it had really meant.

Haruhi wasn't one for romance movies and she never really read fiction aside from that which was assigned in class, but she knew.

The teenage girl's face went hot and red and butterflies went rampant inside her chest.

_I love him._

_-***-_

"Hello?" The voice was rough and seemed confused. It seemed to be unknowing of why it picked up a phone in the first place and less than curious of the person on the other end of the line.

"Um, hi?"

The uninterested character suddenly fell off his chair at the easily recognized voice. He didn't know what to say, so he tried a question.

"Shouldn't you be sleeping?"

"Oh, I'm sorry, did I wake you?"

"No, no, not at all. I was just, uh, watching some tv."

"Okay."

There was a long pause and Hikaru felt this was the first most awkward lapse in conversation they'd ever had. He couldn't start another topic because he really, truly, had no idea what to say. It felt a bit cliché to talk about the weather.

_Speaking of weather… _He looked out of the window and the wind was picking up. It was going to be a storm…

"Haruhi, there's a storm coming."

"Yea, the doctors were talking about it."

"…Where's Kaoru?"

"Sleeping. I was doing school work with him, and his brain didn't last long."

"Oh."

"Um, I better do then."

The dial tone rang in his ear and Hikaru felt his heart hammering against his rib cage.

"Crap!" He jogged out into the hallway and sprinted down to the main entryway.

"Get me a car ready, NOW!"

He bit his lip in anxiety as the sleek, black car wouldn't go fast enough. Before the car could even come to a full stop, he ran out and made his way up to the room he knew she was in, completely ignoring the few bewildered, blushing nurses he passed.

Skidding his brand-name shoes to a halt, he grabbed the doorknob to find a lump of a human being curled up under the sheets.

"Haruhi?"

He came up to her side, just as he had so long ago in their trip to Okinawa. He'd left her alone then too, in his own selfishness. He was always the one hurting her, it seemed.

He pulled the covers back slowly and two deep pools of brown looked at him.

"Hikaru?" she whispered.

He hugged her tightly, and she could hear his heart beating wildly inside his chest. She blushed when she realized the thing pumping madly inside of her was the same.

His warm arms held her tight and she relished in it. It was better than any tackle Tamaki-sempai could give, or any running-jump hug Honey would come at her with. It was unconditional and safe and it was for her.

A streak of lightening lit up the dim room but she didn't even flinch. She could only snuggle deeper into his arms, pulling in the scent of him with every breath.

He pulled back her face for a bit and took her chin in his right hand, his left one still wrapped around her waist tightly.

His eyebrows were crinkled in thought as he studied her intently.

He tried to open his mouth to tell her something important, something he'd been holding in ever since he realized the meaning of his erratic heart beats and bright red face every time she smiled at him.

She beat him to it.

"I love you."

His eyes were wide as plates but he recovered quickly. He answered by placing his lips upon hers and letting the minutes slip by without looking back.

Pulling away only momentarily, he whispered his own three words after waiting for what seemed like a lifetime.

"I love you."

* * *

**Alrighty then! Now to finish off the chapter with a few notes (if you don't mind?)**

**Question: Would you like me to have another chapter or so, or should I just let this be the end? XD If this is it, I'll probably be starting another story soon.**

**What did you think of the fan art? XD It's relatively simple and very amateur, but I wanted to try =) critique on it is welcome.**

**Lasty thing!!! PLEASE, let me know how this was T.T I really want to improve. All critique is good :) and if something feels off or the plot was rushed or ANYTHING, don't hesitate to tell me. If you're going to be harsh, that's okay :) I understand that I'm pretty undeserving of anything nice since I've been so mean with my updating schedule and my average writing skills.**

**I wonder... anybody like -Man?? My two AWESOME writer friends, Astaline Nihtingale**** and IceTiger 13, are co-authoring a story on it with me, called Paper Roses (the author is SweetForgottenLoveParodies, but it's our group account). Check it out :) The other two are such good writers, so I highly recommend it.**

**Thank you everyone for being such a great support :) I could never have done it without you.  
**


	21. F&R Chapter 21: A Proper Happy Ending

**Disclaimer: By now, you should realize I do not own Ouran, only the great Bisco Hatori has that honor.**

* * *

EPILOGUE

"Haruhi! Mommy is being mean again!"

"Come on Tamaki, let go of my arm. Kyouya, could you at least attempt to keep him from whining all the time?"

Kyouya shifted his glasses with a smirk. "If only that were possible, Haruhi."

She laughed at that, and managed to wiggle away from the childish upperclassman, seeking refuge behind Hikaru, who had been twitching every time Tamaki practically groped her with his enthusiasm.

They had all met up sometime after class, deciding to put activities on pause while joining Haruhi to visit her father. It was supposed to be his birthday and they were going to celebrate his life by having a small picnic by his grave.

"Haru-chan, there it is!" Huni's eyes were bright and he was giggling.. He and the hosts had all been anxious for her to see it, scared she would be mad at them for having given him their own gifts.

However, Haruhi stopped when she saw it, her mouth agape. She drew in a long breathe, totally silent.

Still standing beside her, Hikaru kept his eyes fixed on her face, his heart still crazy from nervousness, worried about their possibly out-of-line scheme.

"It's beautiful." It took two works, and at this, Hikaru grinned widely and walked closer with her, her face showing extreme joy.

The tombstone was framed with so many flowers, she gave up imagining the number. Brilliant hues of different roses resonated together. She could pick out all the separate batches by their theme color, and each on of the hosts' rose colors could be found.

Her own color, red, had been used to interweave the three colors beautifully. The boys had all earnestly worked hard to put this together, and had been very careful not to cover up the engraving of the thombstone.

She knew the host club had been so generous to her already, and she recognized all of them to be her best and closest friends. They had even been pretty okay with her and Hikaru's subtle relationship. Sure, he texted her constantly even after spending the day with her, and Kaoru slaughtered her integrity with as many sly perverted jokes he could muster, but otherwise, everything had smoothed over well.

Everything in balance, she could say all was right, but this was too much. Her friends were just too good to her. This caused her heart such a tremble that tears flooded from her eyes. Hikaru put a reassuring arm around her, and they all stood silent for a while.

Breaking the silence as usual was the cheery Huni. "Okay, Haruhi, you hungry?" He held up one of the baskets they'd brought along.

She nodded and smiled, helping to put everything out.

The day passed peacefully, or as peacefully as Tamaki could manage with his obvious desire to bug Haruhi and Hikaru to death. They were so cute together, but Hikaru was still a demon-twin, so Tono could not, would not rest until he was satisfied with repaying all the annoyances. Even angel-boys have their evil spots.

Things worked in this harmonious way for a good three years. We enter their lives again to find a new mess, but one filled only with joy.

"HARUHI!" Kaoru banged the door open, his face crazed. Haruhi had at first become startled at this chaos of an entrance, but it was now the fifth time today he'd done this. It was only 11 in the morning.

"Haruhi, Haruhi – I can't find Hikaru's favorite bracelet. He took it off for his shower and I was supposed to take care of it and it was in my pocket but now its not and he's going to be really mad and then he's going to kill me and he can't know I lost it and I think he's really going to kill -"

Haruhi smacked a hand over his mouth to calm his rant. "Did you check your lucky jewel box?"

"Why would I – OH RIGHT! THANK YOU HARUHI!" He ran away and slammed the door shut again.

Rubbing her temples, Haruhi went back to conentrating on the chaos around her. The room was huge, of course, but an ample portion of that was taken up by a shimmering dress, a soft champagne color made of a gossamer silk. She would never have imgined herself wearing it, but Hikaru's keen fashion sense had inevitably caused her to fall in love with his and Kaoru's design. It was strapless but poofed out from the waist until it hit the floor gracefully.

On the other, less magical, side of the room there were numerous, obviously fashionable women who were sorting through makeup, hair torture devices, and many other things Haruhi did not recognize.

In two hours, she would be Mrs. Hitachiin, the thought causing little butterflies to have spasms inside her stomach, a feeling that she did not find welcome.

In another other wing of the building Hikaru was drinking soda and having his hair styled to perfection. Soda so early in the day was a bad idea, but luckily sugar helped keep him calm, not the opposite.

Finally, it was the day he'd been waiting for. The proposal had taken forever, what with his neverending nervousness with everything to do with Haru-chan. She was the love of his life, for sure, but he couldn't help doubting himself. He remembered the days leading up to the proposal, a mix of dread and crazy happiness tracing each moment.

_Standing in her doorway, he shifted unomfortably from one foot to the other, unsure of how to begin._

"_Hey Hikaru, what's up? It's not dinner time yet is it?" She cheked her watch and look back at him._

_He mumbled something and left, unable to stay. He ran into his own room and flopped onto the bed, a bit peeved that he hadn't raised the courage to ask her for some time alone, maybe go somewhere romantic so he could pop the question. It's the third time this week he'd tried and failed to whisk her away to set the scene for his big question._

_He spent a few hours grumbling curses at himself, eating the food the maid had brought him when he skipped dinner downstairs, until he heard the door creak open._

"_Hikaru?"_

_Lifting his torso up from the soft covers with achy arms, he looked at a pajama-wearing Haruhi._

"_What's wrong?"_

"_I can't sleep. I wasn't sure if you'd be up or not, but I thought maybe we could just sit together for a bit. It's lonely in my room."_

"_Oh, of course. Come here." He scootched over and they sat, their legs intertwined, and talked about unpressing things, like what university they would be attending, and plans to meet with the other hosts now that they've moved on for high schooling. It was all small-talk but they had no trouble enjoying each other's relaxing company._

_However, somehow, the topic rounded back from the hosts' personalities to what had happened so long ago, a topic Haruhi nd Hikaru hadn't brought up much. It had happened and been put away into a neat corner, only brought out again now._

"_Haruhi, I'm really sorry about everything I put you through. I was selfish and stupid and childish and a big idiot. I don't ever want to lose you."_

"_I'm not going anywhere."_

_Hikaru heart was going crazy, but the moment felt so right, so perfect that he couldn't stop his shaking hands from reaching into his pocket. He pulled something discreetly from his pocket, something that although small felt like lead in his hands._

_He popped it open and could see Haruhi's eyes go wide in the dim room._

"_Haruhi, w-will you spend forever with me?"_

_Everything sat still. The only thing he could hear was thump-thump-thump as his heartbeat pulsated throughout his body._

_Haruhi's face was bright with a shy blush, and she nodded, without anything to say. He slipped the ring into her finger clumsily, his nerves still getting the best of him. Haruhi giggled and they pressed their faces together, warm lips against warm lips, a happy future on the horizon._

_A question ocurred to Hikaru only while he lay in bed that night, grinning like the luckiest fool in the world. How were they to tell the host club?_

Hikaru could feel his leg twitching, and he had trouble standing still. A traditional wedding march began to play and heturned hesitantly to the two doors opening at the end of the corridor.

Haruhi walked forward with her head held high, a very tall girl on her arm. Tamaki had moaned and begged about being the one to lead her down the isle, but quit it when Kyouya point blank told him he was an insensitive, selfish idiot to not let Haruhi decide on the matter. So, instead, Haruhi was being escorted by her old friend, Mei, who had happily taken the opportunity to be there for her friend.

Haruhi approached closer to the altar. Mei let her go and stood to the side. Hikaru and Haruhi's eyes met and they both smiled.

The wedding ceremony passed without any major trouble, although Huni, Tamaki, and Kaoru were bawling by the end. The afterparty was a blast and the honeymoon was amazing as they'd chosen to go touring around for a while, it hadn't really mattered where they went. They lived together in a bright house with Kaoru dropping in with his wife as often as adulthood let possible. The drama was all over, or at least until Haruhi found out she was pregnant. Tamaki only fainted twice, but that was something they would only laugh at and remember with the fondest of smiles.

-The End.

* * *

**Now, I know it has been forever since I last updated this story. I have not forgotten it in the least.**

**I had this written and sitting on my computer for a few months now as I was waiting for a Beta to work through my story. With no word from this person, I decided to edit this epilogue myself and post because waiting any longer just seemed silly.**

**Let me know if you think this was a satisfactory ending :) I want to be at peace with this story, once and for all.**


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